air plant

/ɛər plænt/

Other forms: air plants

Definitions of air plant

1. noun

   a plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on it
   synonyms: aerophyte, epiphyte, epiphytic plant

   types:

   Clusia insignis, waxflower

   epiphytic clusia of British Guiana

   Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, black moss, long moss, old man's beard

   dense festoons of greenish-grey hairlike flexuous strands anchored to tree trunks and branches by sparse wiry roots; southeastern United States and West Indies to South America

   aeschynanthus

   a plant of the genus Aeschynanthus having somewhat red or orange flowers and seeds having distinctive hairs at base and apex

   hemiepiphyte, semiepiphyte

   a plant that is an epiphyte for part of its life

   strangler, strangler tree

   an epiphytic vine or tree whose aerial roots extend down the trunk of a supporting tree and coalesce around it eventually strangling the tree

   Clusia major, Clusia rosea, pitch apple, strangler fig

   a common tropical American clusia having solitary white or rose flowers

   Aeschynanthus radicans, lipstick plant

   epiphyte or creeping on rocks; Malaysian plant having somewhat fleshy leaves and bright red flowers

   type of:

   flora, plant, plant life

   (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion