air plant

noun

1. an epiphyte.
2. Also called life plant. a tropical plant, Kalanchoe pinnata, of the stonecrop family, having pale green flowers tinged with red and new plants sprouting at the leaf notches.

air plant

noun

1. an epiphyte, esp an orchid of the large Old World tropical genus Aerides, grown for its white scented flowers spotted with red, purple, or rose, or a bromeliad, esp of the genus Tillandsia

air plant

1. See epiphyte

Word History and Origins

Origin of air plant¹

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

How should they guess that alongside her religious fervor a human love grew ethereally like an air plant?

From Project Gutenberg

A plant growing attached to another plant, but not parasitic; an air-plant.

From Project Gutenberg

In other words, this apparatus will make money as a liquid air plant, and furnish you oxygen as a by-product.

From Project Gutenberg

It may begin life as an air plant, fixing its roots in the crotch of another tree, in which a chance seed has lodged.

From Project Gutenberg

M. Sommeiller developed the Colladon idea and constructed the compressed air plant illustrated in Fig. 2.

From Project Gutenberg