petro-, petr-, petri-, peter-

Plants that grow on or among rocks and are suitable for "rock gardens": Sue was known to have a beautiful area of boulders in her backyard with a variety of petrophytes blooming with all kinds flowers.

Descriptive of vegetation which grows on stoney areas or poor soil: Not only can petrophytic plants survive in rocky desert regions, but also in shrub-steppes, which have just enough moisture to maintain perennial grasses.

The economic or political influence of a country that results from its oil reserves which are needed by other nations: Petroleum-producing countries, or petrostates, like Saudi Arabia, have much petropower over other countries that don’t produce this fuel themselves or don’t have much at all.

A surgical removal of the air cells or air sacks at the highest point of the petrous part of the temporal bone: After being examined by the ear, nose and throat specialist, Larry found out that a petrosectomy had to be performed to remove the damaged area that was causing his hearing problems.

In archaeology, the name for any spherical man-made object of any size that is composed of stone: These petrospheres are primarily prehistoric artistic objects which may have been created and/or selected, but altered in some way to perform their specific functions, including carving and painting.

1. Pertaining to the hard part of the temporal bone in the head that has the internal auditory organs: In her anatomy class, Sharon learned about the petrous part of the skull which surrounds the middle and inner ear and is as dense as a stone.
2. Something that resembles or is like stone: There are petrous characteristics that apply to something like metal or other similar material that does not dent, scratch, or bend easily.

Horizontal layers of sedimentary or igneous rock that produces, contains, or is impregnated with salt: Some wild plant species, called the saltworts or halophytes, are quite adapted to living in an environment of inorganic matter containing a saliferous stratum.

1. Potassium nitrate; used especially as a component of gunpowder or as a food preservative: The term satlpeter derives from the concept that it appears as a salt-like encrustation on rocks.
2. Etymology: Saltpeter is a borrowing of Old Middle English salpetre [about A.D. 1300]; a borrowing of Old French, salpetre, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin; also borrowed directly from Medieval Latin sal petrae, "salt of rock"; from Latin sal, "salt" + petrae, genitive form of Latin petra, "rock".