Cryptogamia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Former botanical class of plants whose reproductive organs are hidden, including ferns, mosses, algae and fungi
2. Obsolete taxonomic grouping of flowerless plants that reproduce by spores rather than visible seeds or flowers
3. Outdated category in Linnaean classification for plants like ferns and mosses whose reproductive structures are not apparent

Etymology: Cryptogamia was coined by Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist, as one of the classes in his system of plant classification. It combines Greek "kryptos", meaning hidden, with "gamos", meaning marriage, so the name literally means "hidden marriage." Linnaeus applied it to plants whose reproductive organs were not conspicuous flowers, such as ferns, mosses, liverworts, and algae, which he thought reproduced without visible stamens and pistils. The idea behind the name was that flowering plants showed their sexual parts openly, while these other plants seemed to conceal theirs. Linnaeus's sexual system relied on counting and arranging stamens and pistils, so plants lacking visible ones were grouped apart as the hidden-marriage class. Modern botany no longer uses Cryptogamia as a formal group, since its members are now sorted into several unrelated lineages. The name survives mainly in older texts and in the adjective "cryptogamic," which still appears in some scientific writing.