Many "normal" terrestrial vascular plants grow occasionally as epiphytes. By documenting as many cases as possible we should get a much better understanding of the frequency of this phenomenon and the ecological conditions which allow accidental epiphytism to occur.

To reach this goal, we need information on species identity of “epiphytic individual” and host, data on attachment height of the former and host tree size (using diameter at breast height = dbh as metric). GPS Data are essential for us to link each observation to climatic conditions. Please comment on any other observation that seems worthwhile, e.g. on phenology of the epiphyte.

Plants growing at the base of a trunk may often just have grown up from the ground and not started as epiphytes. So please ignore anything below 0.3 m above the ground.

For more information about the topic read the following open access paper: Hoeber, V., & Zotz, G. (2022) Accidental epiphytes: Ecological insights and evolutionary implications. Ecological Monographs, e1527. In this paper we also highlight the study of accidental epiphytism as one way to understand the conquest of trees by true epiphytes, which are so common in the tropics and account for some 10% of global plant diversity. So we see a lot of potential in the study of accidental epiphytes.

Thank you very much for your contribution. less ↑