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Information about Epiphytes

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Near Orosí, Costa Rica
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Epiphytes on a tree near Santa Elena in Costa Rica
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An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting in Hawaii


An epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attached to a living plant. The term most commonly refers to higher plants, but epiphytic bacteria, fungi (epiphytic fungi), algae, lichens, mosses, and ferns exist as well. The term epiphytic derives from the Greek epi- (meaning 'upon') and phyton (meaning 'plant'). Epiphytic plants are sometimes called "air plants" because they do not root in soil. However, there are many aquatic species of algae, including seaweeds, that are epiphytes on other aquatic plants (seaweeds or aquatic angiosperms).

Epiphytic organisms usually derive only physical support and not nutrition from their host, though they may sometimes damage the host. Parasitic and semiparasitic plants growing on other plants (mistletoe is well known) are not "true" epiphytes (a designation usually given to fully autotrophic epiphytes), but are still epiphytic in habit.

Epiphytic plants use photosynthesis for energy and (where non-aquatic) obtain moisture from the air or from dampness (rain and cloud moisture) on the surface of their hosts. Roots may develop primarily for attachment, and specialized structures (for example, cups and scales) may be used to collect or hold moisture.

Epiphytic plants 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.

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

The best-known epiphytic plants include mosses, orchids, and bromeliads such as Spanish moss (of the genus Tillandsia), but epiphytic plants 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.

Some epiphytic plants are large trees that begin their lives high in the forest canopy. Over decades they send roots down the trunk of a host tree eventually overpowering and replacing it. The strangler fig and the northern rātā (Metrosideros spp.) of New Zealand are examples of this. Epiphytes that end up as free standing trees are also called hemiphytes.

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

The first important monograph on epiphytic plant ecology was written by A.F.W. Schimper (Die Epiphytische Vegetation Amerikas, 1888).

Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunkiær system.

Popular culture

The fictitious company Epiphyte features prominently in Neal Stephenson's novel Cryptonomicon. Also Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy uses the phenomenon of tiny frogs that live their entire lives in bromeliads as a leitmotif.

See also

External links

Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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Bacteria

Phyla

Actinobacteria
Aquificae
Chlamydiae
Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi
Chloroflexi
Chrysiogenetes
Cyanobacteria
Deferribacteres
Deinococcus-Thermus
Dictyoglomi
Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria
Firmicutes
Fusobacteria
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Eukarya
Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
(unranked) Opisthokonta

Kingdom: Fungi
(L., 1753) R.T. Moore, 1980[1]

Subkingdom/Phyla

Chytridiomycota
Blastocladiomycota

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An epiphytic fungus is a fungus that grows upon, or attached to, a living plant. The term epiphytic derives from the Greek epi- (meaning 'upon') and phyton (meaning 'plant').

Examples

Many examples of epiphytic microorganisms exist.
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phytoplankton — provide the food base for most marine food chains. In very high densities (so-called algal blooms) these algae may discolor the water and outcompete or poison other life forms.
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Lichens (IPA: /ˈlaɪkən/)[1] are symbiotic associations of a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont also known as the phycobiont) that can produce food for the lichen from
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MOSS may refer to:
  • Market Oriented Sector Selective talks, trade negotiations held between the United States and Japan in 1984
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, the current version of what used to be known as SharePoint Portal Server

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Ferns can refer to:
  • the plural of fern, a pteridophyte plant that reproduces using spores rather than seeds.
  • Ferns, a small historic town in north County Wexford, Ireland.
  • Ferns Inquiry.

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Seaweeds are any of a large number of marine benthic algae. They are macroscopic and multicellular, in contrast with most other algae. [1] Seaweeds areoften found in the seashore biome.
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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known.[1]
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Mistletoe is a plant parasitic on the branches of a tree or shrub. All mistletoes are parasitic plants in the order Santalales. This mistletoe habit has evolved independently five times: 1) Misodendraceae, 2) Loranthaceae, 3) Santalaceae (formerly considered the separate family
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Rain is a type of precipitation, a product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface. It forms when separate drops of water fall to the Earth's surface from clouds.
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ROOT is an object-oriented software package developed by CERN. It was originally designed for particle physics data analysis and contains several features specific to this field, but it is also commonly used in other applications such as astronomy and data mining.
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FROG

General
Dianelos Georgoudis, Damian Leroux, and Billy Simón Chaves
1998

Cipher detail
Key size(s):| 128, 192, or 256 bits

Block size(s):| 128 bits

8
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Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829

Subphyla and Classes
  • Subphylum Trilobitomorpha
  • Trilobita - trilobites (extinct)
  • Subphylum Chelicerata

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MOSS may refer to:
  • Market Oriented Sector Selective talks, trade negotiations held between the United States and Japan in 1984
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, the current version of what used to be known as SharePoint Portal Server

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Orchidaceae
Juss.

Subfamilies
  • Apostasioideae
  • Cypripedioideae
  • Epidendroideae
  • Orchidoideae
  • Vanilloideae


Orchidaceae, also called the Orchid family, is the largest family of the flowering plants (Angiospermae).
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Bromeliaceae
Juss.

"

"

"

"

"


"
Subfamiles
  • Bromelioideae
  • Pitcairnioideae
  • Tillandsioideae
"

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T. usneoides

Binomial name
Tillandsia usneoides
(L.) L.

Spanish moss ("Tillandsia usneoides") closely resembles its namesake (Usnea, or beard lichen).
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Tillandsia
L.

Diversity
Around 400 species

The plant genus Tillandsia, a member of the Bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae), is found in the deserts, forests and mountains of Central and South America, and Mexico and the southern United
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Strangler Fig is the common name for a number of tropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including:
  • Ficus aurea, also known as Florida Strangler Fig or Strangler Fig
  • Ficus watkinsiana, also known as Strangler Fig

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M. robusta

Binomial name
Metrosideros robusta
A.Cunn.

Northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta), is a huge forest tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 25 m.
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A hemiphyte is a plant which naturally grows epiphytically, but has extended its roots into the ground to grow independently.
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The Raunkiær system is a system for categorising plants using "life-form" categories, devised by Christen C. Raunkiær (Raunkiær 1934).

The subdivisions of the Raunkiær system are based on the location of the plant's growth-point (bud) during seasons with adverse conditions
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Neal Stephenson

Stephenson at a book signing
Pseudonym: Stephen Bury
Born: September 31 1959 (1959--) (age 48)
Fort Meade, Maryland
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Cryptonomicon

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Neal Stephenson
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Avon
Publication date 1999
Media type Hardcover (first edition)
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Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett
Born: 28 March 1948 (1948--) (age 59)
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]
Occupation: Novelist
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