air plant

air plant

n.

See epiphyte.

air plant

n

(Botany) an epiphyte, esp an orchid of the large Old World tropical genus Aerides, grown for its white scented flowers spotted with red, purple, or rose, or a bromeliad, esp of the genus Tillandsia

air′ plant`

n.

1. an epiphyte.

2. a tropical plant, Kalanchoe pinnata, of the stonecrop family, having pale-green flowers tinged with red and new plants sprouting at the leaf notches.

[1835–45, Amer.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

air plant - plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on it aerophyte, epiphyte, 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