epiphyte
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Related to epiphyte: bromeliad
ep·i·phyte
(ĕp′ə-fīt′)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.
ep′i·phyt′ic (-fĭt′ĭk), ep′i·phyt′i·cal adj.
ep′i·phyt′i·cal·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
epiphyte
(ˈɛpɪˌfaɪt)n
(Botany) a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic on it
epiphytic, ˌepiˈphytal, ˌepiˈphytical adj
ˌepiˈphytically adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ep•i•phyte
(ˈɛp əˌfaɪt)n.
a plant that grows above the ground, supported by the structure of another plant or object, and deriving its nutrients and water from rain, the air, dust, etc.; air plant.
[1840–50]
ep`i•phyt′ic (-ˈfɪt ɪk) ep`i•phyt′i•cal, adj.
ep`i•phyt′i•cal•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ep·i·phyte
(ĕp′ə-fīt′) 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.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
epiphyte
A plant which does not root in the soil, but grows on another plant without being parasitic. It draws moisture and nourishment from the atmosphere. Examples include many orchids, bromeliads and ferns.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
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| Noun | 1. |  epiphyte - plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on itClusia 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 |
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