epiphyte

Meaning

1. 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.
2. 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.)

Synonyms

aerophyte

air plant

epiphytic plant

Translations

épiphyte

cipó

Epiphyt

Aufsitzerpflanze

epifito

epifita

epífito

επίφυτο

epifita

parasita

a pé

epífita

Epifitismo

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐπιφύτον (epiphúton, “one [plant] that grows upon another plant”), from ἐπί (epí, “on top of”) + φυτόν (phutón, “plant”), via epi- (“above, over”) + -phyte (“plant”).