WordNet
n. plant living on another plant and obtaining from it organic nutriment
Wikipedia
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. All parasitic plants have modified roots, named haustoria (singular: haustorium), which penetrate the host plants, connecting them to the conductive system – either the xylem, the phloem, or both. This provides them with the ability to extract water and nutrients from the host.The organisms which support the parasite are called Hosts. Some parasitic plants are able to locate their host plants by detecting chemicals in the air or soil given off by host shoots or roots, respectively. About 4,100 species of parasitic plant in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known.
Usage examples of "parasitic plant".
The well-known Mistletoe is an evergreen parasitic plant, growing on the branches of trees, where it forms pendent bushes, 2 to 5 feet in diameter.
A parasitic plant, Cuscuta epithymum, one of the Dodders, will attack and destroy the fine Lavenders, delphinensis and fragrans, but does not affect the less valuable 'Bastard' Lavender, which eventually survives by itself.
There are several varieties of this parasitic plant that are very unlike in appearance.
I shall grow through the wall like a parasitic plant, spreading and spreading until the whole house is an indescribable mass of flesh and hair and nails.
There is black rotten blood that must be taken off Clinton indicated the massive bruise that was spreading around his chest like some dark parasitic plant around the smooth pale trunk.
The trees were tall, pushing and fighting in a fiercely competitive battle for light, and were wreathed and strangled by an incredible variety of parasitic plant life.