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

These primordial germs, or the ZRA of the Bible genesis, must have preceded the first fungous growth, as they preceded the first spore-bearing cryptogam.

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

Now these points, where my eyes divined the cryptogam pushing back the soil with its button-like heads, these points, where the ordinary fungoid odour was certainly very pronounced, were never selected by the dog.

From Social Life in the Insect World by Miall, Bernard

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.

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

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