cryptogam noun. ['krɪptǝʊgam] M19.
[French cryptogame from mod. Latin cryptogamae (sc. plantae) fem. pl. of cryptogamus adjective, formed as CRYPTO- + Greek gamos marriage: so called because the means of reproduction was not apparent.]
Any plant of the Linnaean division Cryptogamia (now disused), which embraced all non-flowering plants, as ferns, mosses, algae, fungi, etc. (opp. PHANEROGAM). Now rare exc. as vascular cryptogam, any plant of the group that includes ferns and their allies (e.g. horsetails and clubmosses), which resemble flowering plants in possessing a vascular system.

■ crypto'gamic noun & adjective (a) noun a cryptogam; (b) adjective belonging to the Cryptogamia: E19.

■ cryp'togamist noun a botanist specializing in cryptogams M19.

■ cryp'togamous adjective = cryptogamic adjective L18.

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