cryptogamia
/ˌkrɪptoʊˈɡeɪmiə/
noun
- A historical group of plants that reproduce by spores, including ferns, mosses, and algae, as opposed to flowering plants.
- In older botanical books, cryptogamia was used to classify all non-flowering plants.
- The category cryptogamia included everything from mushrooms to seaweed.
- Modern scientists no longer use cryptogamia as a formal classification, but the term is still found in historical texts.