noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any plant of the division Pteridophyta, of simple vascular plants that reproduce via spores rather than seeds and that alternate generations of diploid (sporophyte) and haploid (gametophyte or prothallus) forms, the diploid generally being larger and more conspicuous.

   "Ferns, lycopods, and scouring rushes are all pteridophytes."

2. 2
   plants having vascular tissue and reproducing by spores wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

cryptogamcryptogamfernwortnonflowering plant

Example

More examples

"Ferns, lycopods, and scouring rushes are all pteridophytes."

Etymology

From pterido- (“fern”) + -phyte (“plant”).

Related phrases

vascular plant

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