Characiopodium
{{Short description|Genus of algae}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| taxon = Characiopodium
| authority = G.L.Floyd & Shin Watanabe
| type_species = Characiopodium typicum
| type_species_authority = (K.W.Lee & Bold) G.L.Floyd & Shin Watanabe
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
}}
Characiopodium is a genus of green algae in the family Sphaeropleaceae.{{AlgaeBase genus|name=Characiopodium|id=45252}} It occurs in soils.
Characiopodium consists of cells that are attached to a substrate; the cell body is ellipsoidal, spindle-shaped, or cylindrical, with an adhesive disc. The chloroplast is typically cup- or band-shaped, sometimes stellate and branched; chloroplasts bear one or rarely several pyrenoids. Characiopodium reproduces asexually via zoospores with two flagella, more rarely with aplanospores.{{cite book|last1=Ettl|first1=Hanuš|last2=Gärtner|first2=Georg|title=Syllabus der Boden-, Luft- und Flechtenalgen|edition=2nd|date=2013|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=9783642394614|language=de}}
Morphologically, Characiopodium is very similar to Characium; however, Characiopodium is multinucleate while Characium is uninucleate.