Phanerogam

//ˈfænəɹəɡæm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any plant that produces seeds (rather than spores).

    "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."

  2. 2
    plant that reproduces by means of seeds not spores wordnet

Example

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."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φανερός (phanerós, “visible”) + γαμέω (gaméō, “to marry”); compare cryptogam.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.