Relating to plants that reproduce without producing flowers or seeds, such as ferns, mosses, and algae, instead reproducing through spores.
From Greek 'kryptos' (hidden) + 'gamos' (marriage/reproduction), coined in the 1600s because these plants' reproductive structures were so small they seemed invisible to early botanists.
Mosses and ferns ruled Earth for 150 million years before flowers even existed, yet we call them 'cryptogamic' as if they're missing something—in reality, their spore-based reproduction is just a different strategy that's been spectacularly successful.
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