A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. "Cryptogamae" (Greek  , "hidden" + , , "to marry") means hidden reproduction, referring to the fact that no seed is produced, thus cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" are also occasionally used. As a group, Cryptogamae are the opposite of the Phanerogamae (Greek , = "visible") or Spermatophyta (Greek , = "seed" and , = "plant"), the seed plants. The best known groups of cryptogams are algae, lichens, mosses and ferns, but it also includes non-photosynthetic organisms traditionally classified as plants, such as fungi, slime molds, and bacteria. The classification is now deprecated in Linnaean taxonomy.