air plant, epiphyte, aerophyte, epiphytic plant

plant that derives moisture and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on another plant but not parasitic on it

• waxflower, Clusia insignis — epiphytic clusia of British Guiana
• Spanish moss, old man's beard, black moss, long moss, Tillandsia usneoides — dense festoons of greenish-gray hairlike flexuous strands anchored to tree trunks and branches by sparse wiry roots; southeastern United States and West Indies to South America
• aeschynanthus — a plant of the genus Aeschynanthus having somewhat red or orange flowers and seeds having distinctive hairs at base and apex
• hemiepiphyte, semiepiphyte — a plant that is an epiphyte for part of its life
• strangler, strangler tree — an epiphytic vine or tree whose aerial roots extend down the trunk of a supporting tree and coalesce around it eventually strangling the tree

• plant, flora, plant life — a living organism lacking the power of locomotion