Acryptogam (scientific nameCryptogamae) is aplant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-likeorganism that shares similar characteristics, such as beingmulticellular,photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces viaspores rather than throughflowers orseeds.
This broader definition can includealgae,fungi, and certainbacteria (likecyanobacteria), even though they may belong to differentbiological kingdoms.
The nameCryptogamae (from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) 'hidden' and γαμέω (gaméō) 'to marry') means "hidden reproduction", meaning non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" have occasionally been used.
As a group, Cryptogamae are paired with thePhanerogamae or Spermatophyta, theseed plants. 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 24classes,[1] one of which was the "Cryptogamia". This included all plants withconcealed reproductive organs. He divided Cryptogamia into four orders:Algae, Musci (bryophytes), Filices (ferns), andfungi,[2] but it had also traditionally includedslime molds, andCyanophyta.[3] The classification is now deprecated inLinnaean taxonomy. Cryptogams have been classified into three sub-kingdoms:Thallophyta,Bryophyta, andPteridophyta.[3]
Not all cryptogams are treated as part of theplant kingdom today; the fungi, in particular, are a separate kingdom, more closely related toanimals than plants, whileblue-green algae are aphylum ofbacteria. Therefore, in contemporaryplant systematics, "Cryptogamae" is not a taxonomically coherent group, but ispolyphyletic. However, the names of all cryptogams are regulated by theInternational Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.
Anapocryphal story: it is said that duringWorld War II, the BritishGovernment Code and Cypher School recruitedGeoffrey Tandy, a marine biologist expert in cryptogams, toStation X, Bletchley Park, when someone confused these withcryptograms.[4][5][6] However, the story is a myth; though Tandy did indeed work at Bletchley, he was not recruited by mistake. At the time the field of cryptography was very new, and so it was typical to hire those with education and expertise in other fields.[7]
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