Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Growing or thriving in water.
- adjective Pollinated by pollen that is carried by water.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In botany, pollinated by the agency of water. Compare anemophilous, entomophilous.
- In phytogeography:
- Requiring much moisture: said of plants.
- Less properly, presenting conditions favorable to such plants; hydrophytic.
- Aquatic: applied by Pound and Clements to a class of fungi. Also
hydrophil . - In entomology, having the character of a beetle of the genus Hydrophilus or family Hydrophilidæ.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology That grows or thrives in or near
water - adjective botany That is
pollinated by water
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Wetlands, with their hydrophilous reeds, and cultivated trees are important tree resources and provide various goods-and-services including timber, NTFPs, grazing and desertification control.
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Grassland types include hydrophilous grassland on sandy riverine soils dominated by Acroceras macrum and Ischaemum arcuatum; high-lying grasslands on sand, a diverse fire-subclimax community, palm-veld with Hyphaene coriacea and Phoenix reclinata, another fire-subclimax community; Echinochloa floodplain grassland; and low-lying grasslands on clay.
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In the muddy vegetation associated to these mangroves, big hydrophilous herbs, mainly grasses and forbs, and musaceae (Heliconia latispatha) predominate.
Guianan mangroves 2008
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The predominant vegetation in this region are hydrophilous trees and palms, with abundant epiphytes and scattered herbaceous layer.
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Dissemination is effected by the agency of water, of air, of animals -- and fruits and seeds are therefore grouped in respect of this as hydrophilous, anemophilous and zooidiophilous.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various
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