The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Desmid \Des"mid\, Desmidian \Des*mid"i*an\, n. [Gr. desmo`s chain + e'i^dos form.] (Bot.) A microscopic plant of the family Desmidi[ae], a group of unicellular alg[ae] in which the species have a greenish color, and the cells generally appear as if they consisted of two coalescing halves. [1913 Webster]WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
desmid n 1: freshwater green algae