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> The definition of a plant is that they produce food. This can't be true: Not all plants are autotrophic, and not all autotrophic organisms are plants.
by fh 17y ago
> The definition of a plant is that they produce food.
This can't be true: Not all plants are autotrophic, and not all autotrophic organisms are plants.
- neilk 17y agoWhich plants aren't autotrophic? As for the autotrophic non-plants -- I guess you are referring to algae and some bacteria?
- dalke 17y agoAlso fungi. I was curious myself and did some searching. Some non-autotrophic plants include the parasitic Cuscuta and Balanophora. There's also semi-parasites like Loranthus and Santalum (sandlewood). See Wikipedia under "Parasitic_plant". The most relevant term is "holoparasitism" and one page says: Holoparasitism has evolved at least six times independently.