Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An organism, especially a fungus or bacterium, that grows on and derives its nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In botany, a plant that grows on decaying vegetable matter, as many species of fungi, the Indian-pipe, etc. Also called humus-plant. See hysterophyte and Fungi.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) Any plant growing on decayed animal or vegetable matter, as most fungi and some flowering plants with no green color, as the Indian pipe.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an organism that feeds on dead organic matter especially a fungus or bacterium
Etymologies
- sapro- (“putrid matter”) + -phyte (“plant, growth”) (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Reminded me very much of Pier’s Anthony’s discourse on fungi in I think Omnivore, where I saw the word saprophyte for the first time.”
“Her education, week after week, consisted of mindless memorization of big words like "batholith" and "saprophyte" - words that an average Ph.D. scientist wouldn't know.”
“Something about proletarian revolution among the saprophyte inhabitants of a floating city made of whale barf.”
“Technically a bad fungus would be a parasite and a good fungus would be a saprophyte.”
“The fungus has a wide host range and can survive as a saprophyte in the soil, which makes it difficult to control.”
“Ganoderma lucidum, starts as a saprophyte on nearby decaying stumps and then becomes a parasite on living trees by entering through wounds.”
“In it sprouted last year's saprophyte seeds, salt and alcohol in their tissues to prevent freezing, and covered the rocks with ocherous and purple patches.”
“Growing on decayed tree stumps I frequently found a saprophyte”
“It is a parasite or saprophyte, and entirely destitute of chlorophyll, being pure white throughout.”
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses
“One is that it was imported from the Orient, another, that it is a saprophyte, a fungus which has lived normally upon dead organic matter, but which has taken on the parasitic form, which develops on living organisms.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘saprophyte’.
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
sabaton, sabbatarian, sabbulonarium, sabelline, sabin, sable, sabliere, sabot, sabretache, sabulous, saburration, saccade and 1593 more...
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AGRI - sustainable agriculture
abiota, aborigines, absorptive capacity, acceptable daily ..., acclimation, acid precipitation, acquired by weeds..., active solar heating, acute, adaptation, additives, aerosol and 447 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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♗
euonym, eidolon, aurulent, sable-vested, aether, seraph, woodwose, je ne sais quoi, silver-tongued, schadenfreude, cri de coeur, mare's nest and 10 more...
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Mycolexical
Scientific words & "folk names" that apply to mushrooms, fungi and mycology That are euphonious, humorous or antiquated.
Later some translated foreign words too.basidia, anastomosis, woronin bodies, clitocybe, ascomycetous, septa, deliquescent, mycophobic, autodeliquescence, floccose, stipe, saprophyte and 38 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1401 more...
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misc. plant morphology
the concise british flora in colour (w. keble martin) - glossary - edited, and to be added to
whorled, viviparous, vittae, viscid, villous, valvate, unarmed, umbellate, umbel, tubercle, triquetrous, trigonous and 135 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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words
diplopic, dolorous, farrago, surety, scuttlebutt, Arabesque, infarct, neurasthenia, lambent, expurge, univocal, simper and 395 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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sapro-, sapr-
relating to putrefaction or decay
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Cool Shroomy Words
axenic, ascomycetes, shroud, zonate, mycelium, mycorrhiza, stroma, sclerotium, saprophyte, umbonate, psylocybin, lamellae and 3 more...
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vegetation
triffid, Venus flytrap, saprophyte, rhizome, thallus, knockout moss, carnivorous syndrome, protocarnivorous, paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous, borderline carnivore, touch-me-not and 70 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for saprophyte.
mcritz sap + ROPHYTE = muthaeffin' bingo. Oct 14, 2008