lithophyte
/ˈlɪθəfaɪt/ noun
Forms lithophytes
- noun (biology) Any plant that lives grows on rocks, obtaining nourishment from rain and the atmosphere.
- noun (zoology) Any organism, such as a coral, resembling a stony plant.
Synonyms
Etymology
From litho- (“stone, rock”) + -phyte (“plant”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A hard, or stony, plantlike organism, as the gorgonians, corals, and corallines, esp. those gorgonians having a calcareous axis. All the lithophytes except the corallines are animals.
Etymology [Litho- + Gr. lithophyte.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lithophyte”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details