A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name Cryptogamae (Шаблон:Etymology) means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact that no seed is produced, thus cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" are also occasionally used. As a group, Cryptogamae are the opposite of the Phanerogamae (Шаблон:Etymology) or Spermatophyta (Шаблон:Etymology), the seed plants. The best-known groups of cryptogams are algae, lichens, mosses, and ferns,[1] but it also includes non-photosynthetic organisms traditionally classified as plants, such as fungi, slime molds, and bacteria.[2] The classification is now deprecated in Linnaean taxonomy. Cryptogams have been classified into three sub-kingdoms:
Thallophyta (thallophyte), Bryophyta (bryophyte), and Pteridophya (pteridophyte).
At one time, the cryptogams were formally recognised as a group within the plant kingdom. In his system for classification of all known plants and animals, Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) divided the plant kingdom into 24 classes,[3] one of which was the "Cryptogamia". This included all plants with concealed reproductive organs. He divided Cryptogamia into four orders: Algae, Musci (bryophytes), Filices (ferns), and Fungi.