phanerogam

Phanerogam is a term used in botany for seed-bearing plants that have conspicuous reproductive organs. The name derives from the Greek phanerós, meaning visible, and gamos, meaning reproduction. In classical botany, phanerogams were distinguished from cryptogams, plants that reproduce by spores and do not form noticeable seeds.

Historically, the group Phanerogamae encompassed all seed plants and was divided into two major lineages: gymnosperms and angiosperms. Gymnosperms are seed plants with unenclosed seeds, typically exposed on surfaces such as cones (for example, conifers, cycads, ginkgo, and gnetophytes). Angiosperms are seed plants in which seeds develop inside enclosed vessels, namely fruits that surround the ovules and seeds, and they include the flowering plants.

Key features of phanerogams include the production of seeds as a dispersal unit, a life cycle in which the sporophyte is the dominant, conspicuous generation, and reduced gametophytes that are dependent on the sporophyte tissues (pollen grains representing the male gametophyte and the encased ovules representing the female gametophyte). Fertilization leads to seed formation, from which new sporophyte individuals develop.

In modern classification, phanerogams correspond to all seed plants, comprising gymnosperms and angiosperms. While the term is still used in historical, educational, or descriptive contexts, contemporary taxonomy tends to emphasize monophyletic groups and may prefer the terms Gymnospermae and Angiospermae or simply seed plants within Embryophyta.