cryptogams

Noun

cryptogam (plural cryptogams)

1. Any plant that reproduces using spores (rather than seeds), formerly placed in the taxonomic group Cryptogamae, which included ferns, mosses, algae, fungi, lichens and liverworts.
   • In the absence of phanerogams, the cryptogams — principally the algae, mosses, and lichens — are the dominant forms of plant life.1956, George A. Llano, Botanical Research Essential to a Knowledge of Antarctica, A. P. Crary, L. M. Gould, E. O. Hulburt, Hugh Obishaw, Waldo E. Smith (editors), Antarctica in the International...

   Synonyms:

   aëtheogam