A saprophytic organism is an organism that gets its energy in a unique manner: saprophytes obtain energy from dead and decaying organic matter. If that sounds exceptionally odd, it is not as rare as a person might think. Many kinds of bacteria are saprophytic organisms. Fungi are as well.
A saprophytic plant is a plant that is able to obtain energy from dead and/or decaying organic matter. It is not common. Most plants obtain energy through photosynthesis because they contain chlorophyll; however, there are some saprophytic plants that must obtain energy in other ways because they do not have chlorophyll.
Saprophytic plants can also be parasitic plants. A good example is Monotropa uniflora. It is more commonly known as the Ghost Plant or Indian Pipe due to its translucent, ghostly white appearance.
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/mycotrophic/monotropa_uniflora.shtml
No comments:
Post a Comment