what distinguishes a parasitic plant from a epiphytes and saprophytes?

Answer 1

Parasitic plants get their nutrition by taking it from a living host. The host is harmed (a little or a lot), and the parasite benefits. Dodder and mistletoe are parasitic plants.

An epiphytic plant just lives stuck onto another plant, usually up on a tree. The epiphyte doesn't take anything from the plant that it's living on. This is a commensal relationship. The epiphyte benefits by getting to live up higher in better light, and the host is neither helped nor harmed. Examples include the bromeliads.

A saprophytic plant uses enzymes to break down dead organic matter and then absorbs nutrition from it. The Indian pipe is a saprophytic plant. It is not photosynthetic, so it has to get food somehow! Not too many plants are like that.

Answer 2

In a parasitic relationship, the parasite is dependent on another living organism for survival/nutrition. An epiphyte grows on a living organism, but does not require it for nutrition. A saprophyte uses dead organic material as food.

Answer 3

Epiphytes and Saprophytes don't rely on a host organism for nourishment.

Answer 4

Just had to correct what ecolink said about Indian pipe: it's not a saprophyte, it's a mycoheterotroph. It gets its food through a mutualism with a mycorrizal fungus, which gets sugars from living trees (on the west coast it's Russula and Douglas-fir).

Answer 5

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Mistletoe is especially interesting botanically because it is a partial parasite (a "hemiparasite"). As a parasitic plant, it grows on the branches or trunk of a tree and actually sends out roots that penetrate into the tree and take up nutrients. But mistletoe is also capable for growing on its own; like other plants it can produce its own food by photosynthesis. Mistletoe, however, is more commonly found growing as a parasitic plant. There are two types of mistletoe. The mistletoe that is commonly used as a Christmas decoration (Phoradendron flavescens) is native to North America and grows as a parasite on trees from New Jersey to Florida. The other type of mistletoe, Viscum album, is of European origin. The European mistletoe is a green shrub with small, yellow flowers and white, sticky berries which are considered poisonous. It commonly seen on apple but only rarely on oak trees. The rarer oak mistletoe was greatly venerated by the ancient Celts and Germans and used as a ceremonial plant by early Europeans. The Greeks and earlier peoples thought that it had mystical powers and down through the centuries it became associated with many folklore customs. Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. They probably originated from two beliefs. One belief was that it has power to bestow fertility. It was also believed that the dung from which the mistletoe would also possess "life-giving" power. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up. Later, the eighteenth-century English credited with a certain magical appeal called a kissing ball. At Christmas time a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe, brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she cannot expect not to marry the following year. In some parts of England the Christmas mistletoe is burned on the twelfth night lest all the boys and girls who have kissed under it never marry. Whether we believe it or not, it always makes for fun and frolic at Christmas celebrations. Even if the pagan significance has been long forgotten, the custom of exchanging a kiss under the mistletoe can still be found in many European countries as well as in Canada. Thus if a couple in love exchanges a kiss under the mistletoe, it is interpreted as a promise to marry, as well as a prediction of happiness and long life. In France, the custom linked to mistletoe was reserved for New Year's Day: "Au gui l'An neuf" (Mistletoe for the New Year). Today, kisses can be exchanged under the mistletoe any time during the holiday season.

Answer 6

Define Epiphytes

Answer 7

A parasitic plant will eventually kill the host plant.