cryptogam

American  

[krip-tuh-gam] / ˈkrɪp təˌgæm /

noun

Botany.

1. any of the Cryptogamia, a former primary division of plants that have no true flowers or seeds and that reproduce by spores, as the ferns, mosses, fungi, and algae.

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cryptogam British  

/ krɪpˈtɒɡəməs, ˈkrɪptəʊˌɡæm /

noun

1. (in former plant classification schemes) any organism that does not produce seeds, including algae, fungi, mosses, and ferns Compare phanerogam

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Other Word Forms

• cryptogamic adjective
• cryptogamical adjective
• cryptogamist noun
• cryptogamous adjective
• cryptogamy noun

Etymology

Origin of cryptogam

From the New Latin word Cryptogamia, dating back to 1840–50. See crypto-, -gamy

Example Sentences

While then I feel satisfied that the Gemiasmas produce ague, it is by no means proved that no other cryptogam may not produce malaria.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883 by Various

Universally, the germ precedes the tree, as the tree precedes the seed, in all vegetal growths, from the lowest cryptogam to the lordliest conifer of the Pacific slope.

From Life: Its True Genesis by Wright, R. W.

The insect which seeks it does not come from a distance; it inhabits the places wherein the cryptogam is found.

From Social Life in the Insect World by Miall, Bernard

The cryptogam, formed of spherical cells with a few filaments only, grows in the hair follicles and on the cuticle, and thus a crust often forms around the root of a hair.

From Special Report on Diseases of the Horse by Michener, Charles B.

From these characteristics we recognise an underground cryptogam, known to the botanists as Hydnocystis arenaria, and a relation of the truffle.

From Social Life in the Insect World by Miall, Bernard