epiphyte

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”).

IPA^(key): /ˈɛpɪfɑɪt/

epiphyte (plural epiphytes)

1. (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; an air plant.
   • 1848, John Lindley, A notice of some species of Rhododendron inhabiting Borneo: Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, volume 3, page 88:

     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.

   • 1893, Natural Science: A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress, volume 3, page 185:

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

2. (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.

• epibiont

• epizoon

• epiphytic, epiphytal (archaic)
• epiphytism
• epiphytize
• hemiepiphyte
• semiepiphyte

• saprophyte