Word Study
saprophyte
CIDE DICTIONARY
saprophyte, n. [Gr. sapro`s rotten + fyto`n a plant.].
Any plant growing on decayed animal or vegetable matter, as most fungi and some flowering plants with no green color, as the Indian pipe. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
saprophyte, n. any plant or micro-organism living on dead or decayed organic matter.
Derivative
saprophytic adj.
THESAURUS
saprophyte
algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, climber, conferva, confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy, kelp, legume, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, red algae, rockweed, rust, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent, toadstool, vetch, vine, wort, wrackFor further exploring for "saprophyte" in Webster Dictionary Online