Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to a flower that is pollinated after it opens.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Exhibiting the phenomenon of chasmogamy.

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

  • adjective Exhibiting chasmogamy.

Etymologies

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

[Greek khasma, an opening + –gamous.]

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Examples

  • Some cleistogamous flowers never open, in contrast to chasmogamous flowers that open and are then pollinated.

    Pollination Wikipedia 2009

  • Families showed significant variation in shoot mass, number of seeds set in chasmogamous CH spikelets, and mean mass of CL and CH seeds.

    Altruism: Even Plants Can Do It - The Panda's Thumb 2007

Comments

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  • Pretty word! From the AH dictionary, "Of or relating to a flower that opens to allow for pollination."

    July 8, 2007

  • Great word, palooka! While checking it out, I found cleistogamous: "Of or relating to a flower that does not open and is self-pollinated in the bud." The first parts of the words derive from the Greek for "an opening" and "closed," respectively. :-)

    July 9, 2007

  • This evokes wonderful imagery for me: a flower as a closed chasm.

    July 10, 2007