Like many botanical terms, phyte words often have more than one definition, e.g. Crytophyte, Geophyte, Hydrophyte, and Ombrophyte. Heterophyte has at least six different definitions. The same definition is also often shared by more than one term, e.g. Aerophyte and Epiphyte, Cryptophyte and Geophyte. Meanings have often changed over time. Hydrophyte was originally defined as an aquatic plant and still is in the Oxford unabridged dictionary. However, many current texts define it more broadly as any plant that requires a lot of water. Technically, it might be more accurate to use hygrophyte with mesophyte and xerophyte and keep hydrophyte defined as an aquatic plant.
Most of these words are not used much anymore but many are rather interesting. Naming a species as an example for each term would be a challenge.
WATER
edita) - Done
Xerophyte - adapted to dry conditions Mesophyte - adapted to medium moisture conditions Hydrophyte - adapted to high moisture conditions or an aquatic plant
b) - Done
Mesohydrophyte - intermediate between mesophyte and hydrophyte Mesoxerophyte - intermediate between mesophyte and xerophyte Dissophyte - shoots xerophytic and roots mesophytic Dyssophyte - sometimes a hydrophyte, sometimes an epiphyte
c) - Done
Hygrophyte - thriving in very wet soil, roughly a hydrophyte Ombrophyte - capable of withstanding a lot of rain Phreatophyte - obtaining water directly from a water table or the soil just above it Helophyte or Limnodophyte - marsh plant Amphiphyte - amphibious plant Plotophyte - floating, with stomata on upper leaf surface only Emophyte - completely submerged, no functional stomata Benthophyte - plant living at the bottom of a body of water Oceanophyte - growing in the ocean
LIGHT
editDone
Heliophyte -thriving in or tolerating full sunlight
Sciophyte, Skiophyte, or Ombrophyte - thriving in or tolerating
shade
SOIL
editDone (except Nitrophyte)
Oxyphyte - growing in soil that lacks oxygen
Halophyte - adapted to a saline soil or influenced by salt water Glycophyte - adapted to nonsaline soil Drimyphytes - salt-plants
Oxylophyte - adapted to acid soils Gypsophyte - adapted to chalk or limestone plants Nitrophytes - potash-loving plants?
Lithophyte - growing on rock or on rocky soil Edaphophyte - with roots in soil and shoots in air
Melangeophyte - loam or alluvium plant Spiladophyte - clay plant Europhyte - leaf mold plant
===BUD LOCATION=== (Raunkaier's Life Forms)
Epiphyte - air plant, no roots in soil Phanerophyte - overwintering buds well above soil surface Chamaeophyte - overwintering buds at soil surface Hemicryptophyte - overwintering buds just beneath soil surface Cryptophyte or Geophyte - deeply buried buds, often in tubers or bulbs Hydrophyte - overwintering buds under water Therophyte - overwinter strictly as seeds, annuals
Megaphanerophyte - phanerophyte > 30 m tall Mesophanerophyte - phanerophyte 8 to 30 m tall Microphanerophyte - phanerophyte 2 to 8 m tall Nanophanerophyte - phanerophyte < 2 m tall
Protohemicrytophyte - leaves fully developed in middle but undeveloped at base of stem Xerogeophyte - geophyte with resting period in the dry season
NUTRITION
editHolophyte, Autophyte, or Rhizophyte - autotrophic plant Heterophyte - saprophyte or biophyte, also defined as obligate heterotroph, parasite lacking chlorophyll, a species with a wide variety of habitats, a dioecious sporophyte, or with leaves and flowers on different stems Biophyte, Histophyte, or Oophyte - parasitic plant Hemiautophyte - biophyte with chlorophyll Saprophyte, Coprophyte, or Hysterophyte - obtaining energy from dead organic matter Hemisaprophyte - functioning as a saprophyte but can be an holophyte Holosaprophyte - an obligate saprophyte Autophyte - not a saprophyte Carnivorophyte - carnivorous plant
EPIPHYTES
editEpiphyte or Aerophyte - growing on another plant, instead of in soil, but not parasitic on it Hemiepiphyte - rooting first in soil before forming aerial roots Protoepiphyte - pure epiphyte, not a hemiepiphyte Ant-epiphyte - cultivated by ants Nest-epiphyte - accumulating humus around itself Pseudoepiphyte - stems die at base and upper plant parts survive with aerial roots Tank-epiphyte - roots only function in anchorage
SEXUAL REPRODUCTION
editGametophyte - usually haploid part of a plant's life cycle which produces gametes Sporophyte - usually diploid part of a plant's life cycle which produces asexual spores Xeniophyte or Xenophyte - usually triploid endosperm of angiosperms, may be considered a third generation of life cycle Orthophyte - both gametophyte and sporophyte
Megagametophyte - arising from a megaspore, female gametophyte Microgametophyte - producing microgametes, male gametophyte
Androphyte - male plant Gynophyte - female plant
Amorphophyte - with anamolous flowers
INTRODUCED & CULTIVATED PLANTS & WEEDS
editDone
a)
Agrophyte - agricultural plant Anthropophyte - plant introduced via cultivation Hemerophyte - introduced by humans Dendrophyte - orchard plants
b)
Ergasiapophyte - plant colonizing cultivated fields Ergasialipophyte - relic cultivated plants Ergasiophygophte - fugitive plant from cultivation Ergasiophyte - foreign cultivated plants introduced on purpose Ergasiphyte - foreign cultivated plant
c)
Apophyte - native plants that invade abandoned fields Archaeophyte - weed introduced in prehistoric times Kenapophytes - colonizing cleared land Leimonapophyte - introduced into grassland
===OTHER PHYTOGEOGRAPHIC TERMS=== (mostly by Frederic Clements)
Done A & B - Still to do C to T - Done X
Acrophyte or Coryphophyte - alpine plant
Actophyte - rocky shore plant
Aigiaphyte - beach or strand plant
Aiphyllophyte - evergreen forest plant
Aithalophyte - evergreen thicket plant
Aletophyte or Chomaphyte - ruderal or wayside plant
Alsophyte - grove plants
Amathophyte - sand-plain plants
Ammochthophyte - sand-bank plant
Ancophyte - canyon plant
Anemophyte - blow-out plants, a hollow in a dune created by wind
Bathyphyte- lowland plant
Chasmophyte or Chasmochomophyte - rock crevice plant
Cheradophyte - sandbar plant
Chersophyte - dry waste plants
Chionophyte - snow plants
Chledophyte - plants growing in waste places
Chomophyte - fissure or ledge plant
Conophoraphyte - coniferous forest plant
Cremnophyte - cliff plant
Crenophytes - plants of springs
Crymophyte- polar plant
Enaulophytes - plants of sand draws
Eremophyte - desert plant or growing under similar conditions
Helohylophyte - wet forest plant
Helorgadophyte - swampy woodland plant
Hydrotribophyte - bad land plant
Hylodophyte - dry woodland plant
Hylophyte - woodland plant
Lochmophyte - thicket plant
Lophophyte - hill plant
Mesothermophyte - temperate plant
Microthermophyte - boreal plant
Namatophyte - brook plant
Nomophyte - pasture plant
Ochthophyte - bank or dike plant
Orgadophyte - open woodland plant
Orophyte - sub-alpine plant
Pagophyte - foothill plant
Pediophyte - upland plant
Pelochthophyte - mud bank plant
Petrodophyte - boulder field plant
Petrophyte - rock plants includes Lithophyte and Chomophyte
Phellophyte - growing among loose stones
Phretophyte - tank plant
Poophyte - meadow plant
Potamophyte - river plant
Psamathophyte - strand plant
Psammophyte - sand plant
Psilophyte - prairie plant
Ptenophylophyte - deciduous forest plant
Ptenothalophyte - deciduous thicket plant
Rhoophyte - creek plant
Rhyacophyte - torrent plant
Scotophyte - darkness plant
Stasophyte - stagnant water plant
Syrtidophyte - dry sandbar plant
Taphrophyte - ditch plant
Telmatophyte - wet meadow plant
Thinophyte - dune plant
Tiphophyte - pond plant
Xeroxylophyte - dry forest plant
Xeropoophyte - heath plant
MISCELLANEOUS
editAnemophyte - wind-pollinated plant Anaphyte- plant in which every branch could drop off and form a separate plant Myrmecophyte - ant colony plant Meriphyte - leaf vascular tissue Neophyte - newly introduced plant Pyrophyte - tree with fire-resistant bark Sclerophyte - shrubs with evergreen, drought-resistant leaves Tropophyte or Trophophyte - deciduous plant or broadleaf tree or plant that is adapted to an environment that fluctuates widely during the year. Zoophyte - plant with animal qualities, such as vegetable lamb (Cibotium barometz) or sensitive plant. Now usually defined as an animal with plantlike qualities.
* o Equisetophyta ~ horsetails o Lycopodiophyta ~ clubmosses, spikemosses, quillworts o Psilotophyta ~ whisk-ferns o Pteridophyta~ ferns
* Seed-bearing vascular plants - Superdivision Spermatophyta o Pinophyta ~ conifers o Cycadophyta ~ cycads o Ginkgophyta ~ ginkgos o Gnetophyta ~ gnetophytes o Magnoliophyta ~ flowering plants