• The plant body is of the unbranched filamentous form.

The filaments
usually occur singly and never form a colony like that of Nostoc.
• Each filament is composed of a straight or twisted trichome.
• The trichome is surrounded by a watery, hyaline, mucilaginous
sheath. In some species, the mucilage sheath is absent.
• The cells are spherical or barrel-shaped and arranged in a single row,
like beads on a string.
• Reproduction takes place only by vegetative methods, such as
hormogonia and akinetes formation. Akinetes are much more
elongated than those in Nostoc.
• The filaments of Anabaena can be motile if free from adhesive
mucilage.
• Some species of Anabaena (e.g., A. flosaquae) can produce
neurotoxins that are harmful to domestic animals.

Reproduction in anabaena
The Reproduction of Anabaena is similar to that of Nostoc. It reproduces
only vegetatively by the following methods:

Fragmentation

The older trichome of Anabaena becomes very large and irregular, due to
which it breaks up into short fragments.

Each of these short fragments is capable of developing into a new

trichome.

Hormogonia

Hormogonium or hormogone formation is very common in Anabaena. It is

a short segment of the trichome, which consists of a few cells.

The hormogonia are formed in the region of the heterocysts. Each

hormogonium slips out of the enclosing mucilaginous matrix and divides
into vegetative cells. Some cells become heterocysts, and ultimately a new
trichome is developed.

Akinetes
During unfavourable conditions, the vegetative cells of the trichome
become enlarged and secrete a highly resistant, thick wall around them.
Such modified vegetative cells are called akinetes or resting spores or
arthospores.

Akinetes may develop singly or in chains, on either one or both sides of the
heterocyst or far away from them.

With the onset of suitable environmental conditions, akinete may

germinate into a new filament.

Heterocysts

In some species, heterocysts germinate to form new trichomes.