epiphytes

Noun

epiphyte (plural epiphytes)

1. A plant that grows on another, using it for physical support but obtaining no nutrients from it and neither causing damage nor offering benefit.
   • It has been suggested to me that these fine plants will not prove cultivable, because they are epiphytes.[…]The probability however is, that they do not require to be treated as epiphytes, and that, like orchids, they will grow better if committed judiciously to the earth.1848, John Lindley, A notice of some species of Rhododendron inhabiting Borneo: Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, volume 3, page 88

   Synonyms:

   air plant

2. A fungus that grows on a plant but does not feed upon it saprotrophically (an epiphytic fungus). (The science of detecting and studying any such symbiosis as may be involved in this relationship is still developing.)