Phanerogam

Origin

From Ancient Greek φανερός ("visible") + γαμέω ("to marry"); compare cryptogam.

Full definition of phanerogam

Noun

1. (botany) Any plant that produces seeds (rather than spores).
• 1977, Francesco D'Amato, Nuclear Cytology in Relation to Development, page 8,Among phanerogams (seed plants), only two orders of gymnosperms, the Cycadales and the Ginkgoales, have ciliated motile sperm cells; all others (higher gymnosperms and angiosperms) have nonmotile sperm cells or sperm nuclei.
• 2003, Burkhard Frenzel, History of Flora and Vegetation During the Quaternary, Karl Esser, Ulrich Lüttge, Wolfram Beyschlag, Jin Murata (editors), Progress in Botany, Volume 65, page 591,The stomach contents of the Selerikanka horse contained 116 taxa: 96 phanerogams, 20 cryptogams. Among the phanerogams were 12 tree species, 14 species of shrubs and dwarf-shrubs, as well as 72 species of herbs and very small dwarf-shrubs.
• 2005, Mark Nuttall, Encyclopedia of the Arctic, unnumbered page,Generally speaking, the ranges of most cryptogams are geographically broader than those of phanerogams, and many more species are widely disjunct over the world.

Synonyms

• (plant that produces seeds) spermatophyte

Coordinate terms

• cryptogam

Related terms

• phanerogamian
• phanerogamic
• phanerogamous

Anagrams

• anemograph