epiphyte

A plant not rooted in the soil, but growing above ground level, usually on other plants. It uses such hosts for support only, and should not be confused with parasites, which also obtain food from their hosts. Epiphytes have aerial roots which help to attach them to their supports, and to trap organic debris, providing nutrients. They also absorb water, either as rain or directly from the air, and may be green and capable of photosynthesis. In some, the leaves may form a water reservoir in the centre of the rosette. Epiphytes are especially common in tropical rainforests, where the adoption of this lifestyle allows them to grow in the light, which is otherwise shut out by the dense canopy. Orchids and bromeliads are particularly prominent here; elsewhere, mosses and lichens are the most frequent epiphytes.

A Epiphyte is any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant.

Epiphytes usually derive only physical support and not nutrition from their host, though they may sometimes damage the host.

An epiphyte uses photosynthesis for energy and (where non-aquatic) obtains moisture from the air or from dampness (rain and cloud moisture) on the surface of its host.

Epiphytes attached to their hosts high in the canopy have an advantage over herbs restricted to the ground where there is less light and herbivores may be more active.

Epiphytes are also important to certain animals that may live in their water reservoirs, such some types of frogs and arthropods.

The best-known epiphytes include mosses, lichens, orchids, and bromeliads (such as Spanish moss of the genus Tillandsia), but epiphytes may be found in every major group of the plant kingdom. Assemblages of large epiphytes occur most abundantly in moist tropical forests, but mosses and lichens occur as epiphytes in almost any environment with trees.

In Europe there are no dedicated epiphytes using roots, although grass, small bushes or small trees may grow on the branches of other plants.

The first important monograph on epiphyte ecology was written by A.F.W.