phyto-, phyt-, -phyte

Plants that grow in a pond, a pool, a wetland, or some area that is saturated with water: The tiphophytes in a marsh are primarily composed of grass while those in swamps usually consist of trees.

A vascular plant containing both phloem and xylem.

A ball or concretion in the stomach or intestine, made of hair and fibers of vegetable matter and food detritus: The solid hard mass, or trichophytobezoar, is normally found in the stomachs of ruminant animals, or even sometimes in the stomachs of people.

1. A genus of ringworm fungi of the family Moniliaceae that have hyaline single-celled spores and are parasitic in the skin and hair follicles of humans and lower mammals.
2. A genus of parasitic fungi that lives in or on the skin or its appendages (hair and nails) and is the cause of various dermatomycoses and ringworm infections.

Species that produce spores arranged in rows on the outside of the hair are designated ectothrix; if the spores are within the hair, they are termed endothrix.

1. A contagious disease of the skin and hair, occurring mostly in children, and caused by the invasion of the skin by the Trichophyton fungus.

It is characterized by circular scaly patches and the loss of hair.

2. A superficial fungus infection caused by a trichophyton.

In botany, a perennial plant that enters a resting state during periods of drought: A potato plant is a xerogeophyte in that its leaf cells take in more water from the earth to continue a stable leaf water condition and thus remain alive during a dry period or lack of rain.

A dry-forest plant.

1. A plant living in a dry habitat, typically showing xeromorphic or succulent adaptations and able to tolerate long periods of drought.
2. A plant that is adapted to an arid or dry environment.

A xerophilous plant and a plant that is structurally adapted for growth with a limited water supply.

The term is generally applied not only to actual desert plants, but also to those inhabiting salt marshes or alkaline soil or bogs, where water absorption is slow or difficult because of the excess of salts or acids in solution.

Xerophytes exhibit many modifications of structure which limit transpiration (breathing), because of a thickened epidermis, waxy or resinous coatings, dense pubescence, copious aqueous tissue, etc.

Many xerophytes have developed specialized tissues (usually nonphotosynthetic parenchyma cells) for storing water, as in the stems of cacti and the leaves of succulents. Others have thin, narrow leaves, or even spines, for minimizing water loss.

Xerophyte leaves often have abundant stomata to maximize gas exchange during periods in which water is available, and the stomata are recessed in depressions, which are covered with fine hairs to help trap moisture in the air.

A plant known as pelargonium xerophyton (desert geranium) which has very small fleshy leaves and pink flowers; requires very little water.

A heath plant.

Heath plants grow in tracts of uncultivated, open land with infertile, often sandy soil covered with rough grasses and small bushes or heather; a low-growing Eurasian shrub (Calluna vulgaris) growing in dense masses and having small evergreen leaves and clusters of small, bell-shaped pinkish-purple flowers.

1. A woody plant.
2. A plant living in or on wood.