epiphyte

Epiphytes on a tree branch

Meaning

Noun

  • A plant that grows on another, using it for physical support but obtaining no nutrients from it and neither causing damage nor offering benefit; an air plant.
  • 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.

Related

Broader meaning words

Origin

  • From Ancient Greek ἐπιφύτον ("one [plant] that grows upon another plant"), from ἐπί + φυτόν, via epi- + --phyte.

Modern English dictionary

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