[1] It was named after the American botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith.

[2] This remarkable alga has only been recorded once from a muddy rainwater pool in Madras (now Chennai), India.

[1] Gilbertsmithia grandis consists of flattened colonies of cells, termed coenobia.

[2] Gilbertsmithia grandis reproduces asexually by the formation of autospores.

The mother cell wall is retained and becomes angular, and remain attached to each other; therefore, multiple rings may be present on a single colony.