epiphytes
Non-parasitic tree dwellers
Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants without parasitizing them—they use their hosts for physical support while drawing moisture and nutrients from air and rain.
Orchids, bromeliads, and many ferns are epiphytes, clinging to tree branches in tropical forests.
The jungle canopy was thick with epiphytes.
Also called air plants.
Vegetation requiring no soil
- orchidsTropical flowering plants
- bromeliadsTropical plants, often epiphytic
- fernsSpore-bearing vascular plants
- mossesSmall spore-bearing plants
lichens · host tree · aerial roots · non-parasitic · canopy · bark · branches · nutrients
Overhead protective covering
- tropicalOf hot, humid regions
- cloud forestMist-immersed mountain ecosystem
- biodiversityRange of life forms
- jungleDense tropical forest
humidity · microhabitat · tree crown · emergent layer · understory · montane · Amazon · Borneo
Converting inert gas to ammonia
- water retentionBody storing excess fluid
- microclimateLocalized atmospheric zone
- habitatOrganism's natural environment
- invertebratesAnimals without vertebral columns
bird nesting · pollination · seed dispersal · decomposition · biomass · forest health · carbon storage · succession
Glass-walled growing enclosure
- vivariumEnclosure for living specimens
- mountedFixed in position
- driftwoodSea-delivered shore lumber
- sphagnumAbsorbent bog moss
misting · greenhouse · air circulation · bright indirect light · soilless · hanging baskets · watering · propagation
air plants
Vegetation requiring no soil
- orchidsTropical flowering plants
- bromeliadsTropical plants, often epiphytic
- fernsSpore-bearing vascular plants
mosses · lichens · host tree · aerial roots · non-parasitic · canopy · bark · branches · nutrients · moisture
canopy
Overhead protective covering
- tropicalOf hot, humid regions
- cloud forestMist-immersed mountain ecosystem
- biodiversityRange of life forms
jungle · humidity · microhabitat · tree crown · emergent layer · understory · montane · Amazon · Borneo · mist
nitrogen fixation
Converting inert gas to ammonia
- water retentionBody storing excess fluid
- microclimateLocalized atmospheric zone
- habitatOrganism's natural environment
invertebrates · bird nesting · pollination · seed dispersal · decomposition · biomass · forest health · carbon storage · succession · colonization
terrarium
Glass-walled growing enclosure
sphagnum · misting · greenhouse · air circulation · bright indirect light · soilless · hanging baskets · watering · propagation · pups
- foresttrees, pine, oak, woods, wood
- life formsorganisms, organism, lifeforms, animal, creatures
- plantstree, plants, leaves, bluebonnet, trees
- rainforestrainforest, jungle, tropical, tropics, canopy
- rainforeststropical rainforest, canopy layer, forest floor, emergent layer, understory
- Amazon RainforestAmazon, tropical rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Amazon basin, jungle
epiphytesparasitic plants
Flora drawing from hosts
parasites · mistletoe · dodder · broomrape · autotrophs