Comments by "EebstertheGreat" (@EebstertheGreat) on "Is moldy food really that dangerous? (We're not sure, but don't risk it.)" video.

  1. 2:37 For those wondering, there are at least three commonly-used definitions of "plant" that include or exclude various types of algae. The strictest sense of the word "plant" (Plantae sensu strictissimo  ) applies only to the land plants (Embryophyta), which are what we all normally think of as plants, even the simple plants like mosses and ferns, but none of what we would call "algae." A slightly less-strict sense of "plant" (Plantae sensu stricto ) applies not just to land plants but to all green algae (Viridiplantae), including stoneworts and a variety of (mostly single-celled) marine and freshwater algae. A broad sense of the word "plant" (Plantae sensu lato ) applies to not only green algae but also red algae and possibly glaucophytes (Archaeplastida). It's hard to find a well-known red alga, but basically, they are red in color, either single- or multicellular, alternate generations like plants, mostly live in the ocean, and generally don't form lichens with fungi. But most algae isn't plants in any sense! For instance, kelp is a brown alga from the SAR supergroup, only very distantly related to plants. And cyanobacteria are sometimes called " blue-green algae" even though they are prokaryotes. The undifferentiated plant tissue he is referring to is called a "thallus," or "thalloid tissue." Even some non-plants have thalli, like the kelp I just mentioned. But many simple plants do too, and even a a few ore complex plants like duckweeds have thalloid structure.
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  2.  @SY-ok2dq  Yes, carrageenan is extracted from red algae. Apparently the most popular sources today are E. cottonii and E. spinosum.
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  3.  @SY-ok2dq  Wikipedia says carraig is the Irish word for "rock" and carraigín is the Irish word for what in English we call "Irish moss," species Sagina subulata. From carraigin we get the rarely-used English common name "carrageen" for Irish moss, and from that, we get "carrageenan" to mean the particular red extract of that moss. In practice though, in modern times, other red algae are usually used for carrageenan production.
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