Epiphytes
Plants that grow on other plants for support are called epiphytes. By using other plants to perch high up above the ground, epiphytes attain favourable light conditions in the dense tropical rainforest. Unlike parasitic plants, which also grow on host plants, epiphytes do not steal water and nutrients from the hosts, absorbing them from rainwater instead. About 28,000 species in 84 families of all known vascular plants have taken to epiphytic life in the tropics. In addition, there are also many species of non-vascular epiphytes, such as algae, mosses and lichens, although in Malaysia they are outnumbered by species of ferns and orchids.
- Information in the full article includes
- Habitat
- Water, nutrients and epiphytes
- Epiphytic ferns
- Epiphytic flowering plants
- Dispersal
- Economic importance
