Meanings
plural phanerogams
- biologyAny plant that produces seeds (rather than spores).
Generally speaking, the ranges of most cryptogams are geographically broader than those of phanerogams, and many more species are widely disjunct over the world.
2005, Mark Nuttall, Encyclopedia of the Arctic, unnumbered page2 more examples
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.
1977, Francesco D'Amato, Nuclear Cytology in Relation to Development, page 8The 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.
2003, Burkhard Frenzel, “History of Flora and Vegetation During the Quaternary”, in Karl Esser, Ulrich Lüttge, Wolfram Beyschlag, Jin Murata, editors, Progress in Botany, volume 65, page 591Synonyms: spermatophyte
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny plant that produces seeds (rather than spores).
More synonyms by meaning
nounplant that reproduces by means of seeds not spores
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekφανερός“visible”
- Englishphanerogam
From Ancient Greek φανερός (phanerós, “visible”) + γαμέω (gaméō, “to marry”); compare cryptogam.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan fanerògama, espermatòfit
- fanerògamaplant that produces seeds
- espermatòfitplant that produces seeds
Chinese Mandarin 顯花植物 /显花植物
- 顯花植物 /显花植物 (xiǎn huā zhí wù)plant that produces seeds
Dutch zaadplant
- zaadplantplant that produces seeds
Estonian seemnetaim
- seemnetaimplant that produces seeds
Finnish siemenkasvi
- siemenkasviplant that produces seeds
French phanérogame
- phanérogameplant that produces seeds
German Samenpflanze
- Samenpflanzeplant that produces seeds
Italian spermatofita
- spermatofitaplant that produces seeds
Persian پیدازا
- پیدازا (peydāzā)plant that produces seeds
Spanish espermatofita, espermatófita
- espermatofitaplant that produces seeds
- espermatófitaplant that produces seeds
- espermatofitoplant that produces seeds
- espermatófitoplant that produces seeds
Swedish fröväxt, fanerogam
- fröväxtplant that produces seeds
- fanerogamplant that produces seeds
Tagalog butuhan
- butuhanplant that produces seeds
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
phanerogam. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phanerogam
“phanerogam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phanerogam. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phanerogam,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phanerogam.
Source: phanerogam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.