pteridophytes can be referred to as vascular cryptogams comment
A pteridophyte sensu lato is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces via spores, and therefore was a member of the former and now invalid taxon Pteridophyta. The term is now used only informally to denominate a fern (monilophyte) or lycophyte. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are also referred to as ``cryptogams''. The pteridophytes include the ferns, horsetails, and the lycophytes (clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts). These are not a monophyletic group because ferns and horsetails are more closely related to seed plants than to the lycophytes. Therefore, ``Pteridophyta'' is now an invalid taxon, although the term pteridophyte remains in common parlance, as do pteridology and pteridologist as a science and its practitioner, to indicate lycophytes and ferns as an informal grouping, such as the International Association of Pteridologists and the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group.
Pteridophyte