cryptogam
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.
Origin of cryptogam
1Other words from cryptogam
- cryp·to·gam·ic, cryp·tog·a·mous [krip-tog-uh-muhs], /krɪpˈtɒg ə məs/, cryp·to·gam·i·cal, adjective
- cryp·tog·a·mist, noun
- cryp·tog·a·my, noun
Words Nearby cryptogam
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cryptogam in a sentence
The insect which seeks it does not come from a distance; it inhabits the places wherein the cryptogam is found.
Social Life in the Insect World | J. H. FabreThey mock at wounds who never confronted a foe more tangible than a Baconian cryptogam.
The Army Mule and Other War Sketches | Henry A. CastleThis irritation induces abnormal proliferation of epithelium, upon which the spores of the cryptogam then germinate.
The papilla continues to elongate and the cryptogam to increase, until finally it invades nearly the entire length of the papilla.
In no plant belonging to this sub-kingdom—in no single cryptogam—is any flower ever developed.
British Dictionary definitions for cryptogam
/ (ˈkrɪptəʊˌɡæm) /
(in former plant classification schemes) any organism that does not produce seeds, including algae, fungi, mosses, and ferns: Compare phanerogam
Origin of cryptogam
1Derived forms of cryptogam
- cryptogamic or cryptogamous (krɪpˈtɒɡəməs), adjective
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
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