Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A plant that produces seeds.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, a phanerogamic plant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany Any plant that produces seeds (rather than spores)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun plant that reproduces by means of seeds not spores

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin phanerogamus : Greek phaneros, visible (from phainein, to cause to appear; see bhā- in Indo-European roots) + Greek gamos, marriage; see –gamous.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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Examples

  • In the large Djerid Basin, the central portion is covered by stands of Halocnemum strobilaceum (the most adapted phanerogam species) and then followed by vegetation belts of Salsola tetrandra, Suaeda mollis and Suaeda fruticosa.

    Saharan halophytics 2008

  • The sequence involves a decline in phanerogam genera from c. 1,400 in Papua New Guinea to c. 260 in both Tonga and Niue.

    East Rennell, Solomon Islands 2008

  • The Solomon group contains almost 650 species of phanerogam with 162, or 25% of the total not occurring on any other island to the east.

    East Rennell, Solomon Islands 2008

  • The New Caledonia dry forests ecoregion contains 379 native plant species (phanerogam), 59 of which are found only in the dry forests.

    New Caledonia dry forests 2007

  • The still wider evolution, not of solitary individuals, but of all the individuals within each province -- in the vegetal world from the unicellular cryptogam to the highest phanerogam, in the animal world from the amorphous amœba to Man -- is at least suspected, the gradual rise of types being at all events a fact.

    Natural Law in the Spiritual World Henry Drummond 1874

Comments

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  • "'How I yearn to set foot on at least one of these islands,' said Martin. 'Such discoveries to be made in every realm! If the reptilian order can run to such extreme magnificence, what may we not expect from the coleoptera? From the butterflies, the phanerogams?'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 271

    February 23, 2008

  • "'I should scarcely call myself a botanist,' said Stephen, 'though I did publish a little work on the phanerogams of Upper Ossory.'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 85

    March 6, 2008

  • This reminds me of a series of books from my childhood, one of which was "An Leaba a d'imigh Huis go Bodhrais-an-Uisrigh" (The bed that went whoosh to Borris-on-Ossory). Each title in the series involved the magic bed that would go 'whoosh' and wake up at a different destination.

    Oddly enough, I have no recollection where Borris-on-Ossory is located. I think maybe there was a round tower there.

    March 6, 2008

  • What a neat series that must have been! Far more comfortable than a magic carpet. :-)

    March 6, 2008

  • sionnach, I tried googling that title and am coming up empty handed. Who is the author and do you know if the books are still available and if there are English translations? They sound delightful.

    March 6, 2008

  • "It was not until I had been some years in Ireland and had written my little work on the phanerogams of Upper Ossory that I came to understand how monstrously I had wasted my time."

    Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, p 36 of the Norton paperback edition

    July 5, 2019