Epiphytum
Epiphytum (ex Graeco ἐπὶ 'super' + φυτόν 'planta'), vulgo planta aeria, est planta quae super aliam plantam (sicut arbor) non sicut parasitus, vel aliquando super aliam rem (sicut aedificium vel filum ferreum telegraphicum), crescit, humorem et alimenta ex aere pluviaque adipiscitur, et aliquando ex ramentis quae circa se accumulant, et in zoná temperatá (multa bryophyta, marchantiophyta, lichenes, et algae) vel in tropicis (multa pteridophyta, cactaceae, orchidaceae, et bromeliaceae) habitat.

Subdivisio botanica

"Epiphytum" est una ex subdivisionibus systematis Raunkiær. Nomen plerumque spectat ad plantas altiores, sed epiphytica  bacteria, fungi (fungi epiphytici), algae, lichenes, bryophyta, pteridophyta etiam exsistunt. Plantae epiphytica aliquando appellantur plantae aeria quia eae in solo non radicantur; sunt autem multae aquatiles algarum species, praecipue algarum marinarum (macroscopicarum, multicellularum, benthicarum), quae sunt quasi epiphyta super alias plantas aquatiles (algas marinas vel angiospermas aquatiles).

Notissimae plantae epiphyticae sunt bryophyta, orchidaceae, et bromeliaceae sicut Tillandsia usneoides, sed plantae epiphyticae omne in regni plantarum grege maiore inveniuntur. Circa 89 centesimae specierum epiphyticarum (circa 24 000) sunt plantae florentes. Proximus grex est Pteridopsida vel Polypodiopsida (h.e. pteridopsida leptosporangiata, circa 2800 specierum, quarum 10 centesimae sunt epiphyta), atque adeo tertia omnium pteridopsidorum pars est epiphyta. Tertius grex est Lycopodiopsida, quorum sunt 190 species. Sequuntur nonnullae species Selaginellarum et aliorum Pteridophytorum, Gnetalium, Cycadalium; et raro Aracearum.

Physiognomia

Organismi epiphytici solum firmamentum physicum et non alimentum ex hospite usitate extrahunt, quamquam ei aliquando hospiti noceant. Plantae parasiticae semiparasiticaeque super alias plantas crescentis—notissimae sunt plantae ordinis Santalalium—non sunt "epiphyta vera" (designatio usitate epiphytis omnino autotrophicis data), tamen habitu iam sunt epiphyticae. Plantae sicut species Griselinia, quae in Nova Zelandia longas radices adversus solum demittunt, dum se altae in alia planta infigunt, eá ob firmamentum physicum fretae, etiam habitu sunt epiphyticae.

Aliae plantae epiphyticae sunt magnae arbores, quae altae in aulaeo silvatico gignuntur. Nonnullos annos, atque adeo decennia, eae radices secundum truncum arboris hospitis demittunt, quem eae ad ultimum superant et substituunt. Ficus strangulans et Metrosideros robusta Novae Zelandiae sunt exempla. Epiphyta quae ipsa ad ultimum fiunt arbores libere stantes appellantur hemiepiphyta.

Alimentum

Plantae epiphyticae photosynthesi energiam adipiscuntur et, ubi non aquatiles, humorem ex aere humidisque rebus (pluviá et rore ex nubibus) in superficie eorum hospitum. Eae radices praecipue adligandi causá evolvere possunt, et structurae propriae (exempli gratia, pocula et squamae) conligendi vel tenendi humoris causa adhiberi possunt.

Oecologia

Congeries magnorum epiphytorum abundantissime in humidis silvis tropicis crescunt, sed bryophyta lichenesque cum arboribus in paene omne circumiectu inveniuntur. Raro, graminoidea, parvi frutices, vel parvae arbores in solis suspensis in arboribus crescunt, usitate in foraminibus tabescentibus (rot-holes).

Plantis epiphyticis quae se ad hospites altae in aulaeo infigant est loci opportunitas, contra herbas quae tantum in humo habitant, ubi est minus lucis et herbivora sint frequentiores. Plantae epiphyticae sunt maximi momenti quibusdam animalibus quae in earum aquae receptaculis vivant, sicut multa anurorum arthropodorumque genera.

In Europá, nullae plantae omnino epiphyticae radicibus utuntur, sed multiplices bryophytorum lichenumque congeries super arbores in regionibus humidis vigent, praecipue in fimbriis litoris occidentalis, et communes Polypodiaceae epiphyticae secundum ramos crescunt. 

Die Epiphytische Vegetation Amerikas, prima gravis monographia de oecologia plantarum epiphyticarum, ab Andreá Francisco Gulielmo Schimper anno 1888 edita est.

 Epiphyllum, genus "cactaceae orchidaceae"
 Planta parasitica
 Systema Raunkiær

Notae

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Nexus externi
 "Caring for an air plant" apud www.bbc.co.uk 
 Index apud www.jardinbotanicolankester.org (Lankester Botanical Garden)

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Morphologia plantarum
Oecologia