cryptophyte

American

[krip-tuh-fahyt] / ˈkrɪp təˌfaɪt /

noun

Botany. a plant that forms its reproductive structures, as corms or bulbs, underground or underwater.
Biology. cryptomonad.

cryptophyte British

/ ˌkrɪptəˈfɪtɪk, ˈkrɪptəˌfaɪt /

noun

any perennial plant that bears its buds below the soil or water surface

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

cryptophytic adjective

Etymology

Origin of cryptophyte

First recorded in 1900–05; crypto- + -phyte

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The B. natans nuclear genome is the first to be sequenced from a rhizarian protist, and the G. theta nuclear genome sequence is the first from a cryptophyte.

From Nature

Scholes hopes to investigate the issue by comparing antenna proteins isolated from species of cryptophyte algae that evolved at different times.

From Nature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023