| Author | Brook, A.J. & Williamson, D.B. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Title | A Monograph on some British Desmids |
| ISBN | 978-0-903874-42-7 |
| Type | Book/Report |
| How Complete | All the British species known at the time |
| Source | 172, 364pp, The Ray Society, London |
| Illustrations | 1 painted colour plate and numerous line drawings |
| Review (by Malcolm Storey) | Covers 67 species of the large genus Closterium, plus a few small related genera of elongate desmids. Each species is described and illustrated with a set of illustrations to show the range of variation. There are keys to genera and species. |
| Errata, Corrigenda & Comments | The formatting of the keys seems to have gone wrong: they are arranged as indented keys but without the indentation which makes it quite difficult to find the other half (or thirds) of the couplets. |
| Examine |  Compound Microscope |
| Specimen Preparation | Fresh live material is preferred. (The best preservation methods are beyond the home laboratory.) |
| Identification difficulty | Desmids are highly polymorphic, so it’s best to base identifications on a number of individuals of the same species. To this end, collected material should be extracted by side illumination. Different species often become separated by their phototactic responses. |
