epiphyte

ep·i·phyte  (p-ft)

n.

A plant, such as a tropical orchid or a staghorn fern, that grows on another plant upon which it depends for mechanical support but not for nutrients. Also called aerophyte, air plant.

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epi·phytic (-ftk), epi·phyti·cal adj.

epi·phyti·cal·ly adv.

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epiphyte [ˈɛpɪˌfaɪt]

n

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic on it

epiphytic  [ˌɛpɪˈfɪtɪk], epiphytal, epiphytical adj

epiphytically  adv

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epiphyte  (p-ft)

A plant that grows on another plant and depends on it for support but not food. Epiphytes get moisture and nutrients from the air or from small pools of water that collect on the host plant. Spanish moss and many orchids are epiphytes. Also called aerophyte, air plant.

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epiphytic adjective (p-ftk)

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

epiphyte - plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on it aerophyte, air plant, epiphytic plant plant life, flora, plant - (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion Clusia insignis, waxflower - epiphytic clusia of British Guiana black moss, long moss, old man's beard, Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides - dense festoons of greenish-grey hairlike flexuous strands anchored to tree trunks and branches by sparse wiry roots; southeastern United States and West Indies to South America aeschynanthus - a plant of the genus Aeschynanthus having somewhat red or orange flowers and seeds having distinctive hairs at base and apex hemiepiphyte, semiepiphyte - a plant that is an epiphyte for part of its life strangler, strangler tree - an epiphytic vine or tree whose aerial roots extend down the trunk of a supporting tree and coalesce around it eventually strangling the tree