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century plant

(Encyclopedia)century plant: see amaryllis.

air plant

(Encyclopedia)air plant: see epiphyte.

resurrection plant

(Encyclopedia)resurrection plant, name for several plants, usually of arid regions, that may apparently be brought back to life after they are dead. In reality they have hygroscopic qualities which cause them to cu...

pitcher plant

(Encyclopedia)pitcher plant, any of several insectivorous plants with leaves adapted for trapping insects. Each leaf forms a “pitcher,” a somewhat trumpet-shaped enclosure, usually containing a liquid. An insec...

oyster plant

(Encyclopedia)oyster plant, name for several plants, among them the salsify. ...

cutch, plant extract

(Encyclopedia)cutch: see catechu.

rice-paper plant

(Encyclopedia)rice-paper plant: see ginseng.

gum, colloidal plant substance

(Encyclopedia)gum, term commonly applied to any of a wide variety of colloidal substances somewhat similar in appearance and general characteristics, exuded by or extracted from plants. In this classification, howe...

epiphyte

(Encyclopedia)epiphyte ĕpˈəfītˌ [key] or air plant, any plant that does not normally root in the soil but grows upon another living plant while remaining independent of it except for support (thus differing fr...

Schimper, Karl Friedric

(Encyclopedia)Schimper, Karl Friedric shĭmˈpər [key], 1803–67, German botanist. He did important work in plant morphology and originated the theory, called phyllotaxis, that there is a fixed order to the arran...