cryptogamic

American  

[krip-tuh-gam-ik] / ˌkrɪp təˈgæm ɪk /

adjective

1. Botany. being a cryptogam or relating to or characteristic of cryptogams.

2. having or being a crustlike soil surface containing lichens, mosses, and other organic material.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cryptogamic

For thousands of years men looked at the cryptogamic mold called Penicillium notatum, but Dr. Fleming was the first to see its meaning.

From Time Magazine Archive

For thousands of years men looked at the cryptogamic mold called Penicillium notatum, but Dr. Fleming was the first to see its cryptic meaning.

From Time Magazine Archive

So we had to go home without our cryptogamic prize.

From Spare Hours by Brown, John

Mite-galls occur on the sycamore, pear, plum, ash, alder, vine, mulberry and many other plants; and formerly, e.g. the gall known as Erineum quercinum, on the leaves of Quercus Cerris, were taken for cryptogamic structures.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various

Some of the cryptogamic plants form considerable articles of commerce, particularly as food plants, affording gelatinous and amylaceous matter, and being useful in medicine and the arts.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.