Epiphyte

Quick meaning: Epiphyte is a noun meaning (botany) A plant that grows on another, using it for physical support but obtaining no nutrients from it and neither causing damage nor offering benefit.

Meaning

(botany) A plant that grows on another, using it for physical support but obtaining no nutrients from it and neither causing damage nor offering benefit.

More Meanings

1. (biology) A fungus that grows on a plant but does not feed upon it saprotrophically (an epiphytic fungus). (The science of detecting and studying any such symbiosis as may be involved in this relationship is still developing.)

Example Sentences

The nature of the surface of a plant also determines the number and sort of Epiphytes which lodge on it.

It has been suggested to me that these fine plants will not prove cultivable, because they are epiphytes.[…]The probability however is, that they do not require to be treated as epiphytes, and that, like orchids, they will grow better if committed judiciously to the earth.

Word Forms

• epiphytes

Synonyms for epiphyte

Depending on context, synonyms include aerophyte.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include aerophyte, epiphytic, edaphophyte, phorophyte, epiphytism, airplant.

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