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Vascular Epiphytes: Plants That Have Broken Ties with the Ground

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Abstract

The review addresses the issues of the ecological and botanical phenomenon of epiphytism in vascular plants. The origin of epiphytism, its ecological boundaries, and the modern understanding of the ecomorphological features of epiphytes are discussed. Various approaches to the classification of epiphytes, including the authors, are considered; the relationship between modern English terminology and traditional Russian literature is discussed. The most debatable problems in the understanding of the phenomenon of epiphytism in the international literature are discussed. The mechanisms of the existence of plants that have broken ties with ground sources of mineral nutrition and water are considered. The problems and the degree of study of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in epiphytes in the context of their xeromorphosis are outlined. The mechanism and the functional role of the formation of suspended soils are considered. The existing theories and debatable problems of mineral nutrition of epiphytes, in particular nitrogen nutrition, are discussed. Various biological aspects of crown development, e.g., diasporology, the structure of epiphytic communities, and the ecosystem role of epiphytes, are summarized.

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  1. That is mostly specific for mosses and lichen.

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Funding

The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 20-14-50223, and the Tzitzin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, no. 118021490111-5, on the basis of the UNU Stock Greenhouse.

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  1. Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia

    A. K. Eskov

  2. Tsytsin Main Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences, 127276, Moscow, Russia

    A. K. Eskov & G. L. Kolomeitseva

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Eskov, A.K., Kolomeitseva, G.L. Vascular Epiphytes: Plants That Have Broken Ties with the Ground. Biol Bull Rev 12, 304–333 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079086422030033

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