Word: superplant Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From super- + plant. 1. A plant growing on another, such as the mistletoe; an epiphyte. Labels: obsolete Example: Experiments in consort touching the rudiments of plants ; and of the excrescences of plants , or superplants Example: And they surely speak probably who make it an arboreous excrescence, or rather superplant, bred of a viscous and superfluous sap which the tree it self cannot assimilate. 2. A plant that is particularly robust and which thrives in poor growing conditions or dominates an ecosystem. Example: A lot of your early field research was in the desert, and one plant that you studied was creosote, which you have called "the superplant of the desert." Example: Tamarisk's long seed viability allows it to flourish under such conditions where willows and cottonwoods cannot. It has proven to be a biological superplant. 3. A plant that is unusual in its ability to perform an especially useful function Example: The clean-air machine has a slot for coins, a panel called Hygiene Control, and its sides are made of some translucent substance, through which can be seen the fuzzy outline of a cluster of leaves, as of some superplant that produces pure life-giving air. Example: The florist's chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) (with the peace lily) was the most potent of the superplants tested by NASA. It filtered out all five of the common toxins mentioned here (trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, benzene, xylene, and ammonia). 4. A plant that can be eaten for particular health benefits or particularly high nutritional value; a superfood. Example: Parsley may look like a mild-mannered garnish, but inside lurks the nutrient content of a “superplant.” Example: It is potentially a super-plant, with immune-stimulating, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour and anti-microbial properties. 5. A plant that is created through unnatural means, such as genetic engineering, to be stronger than others. Example: An artist's fanciful conception of a superplant of the future produced through the processes of DNA technology. Example: The propagation of these plants may very well be done by cloning because if a superplant is genetically engineered, the genetic integrity of the plant must be kept intact. 6. A manufacturing plant that is particularly large and efficient, especially one that combines functions normally handled in separate plants. Example: All new flue-cured processing plants built during the past 10 years have been of the superplant type, and the bulk of the processing capacity operated by domestic cigarette manufacturers is already of the superplant type. Example: While the consensus definitely is that none of these problems are insurmountable a MHD system can evidently not immediately be incorporated into the power core of the proposed superplant. 7. A type of prosthesis composed of a fixed saddle rigidly connected to one or more abutments, especially one with subperiosteal implants. Example: In a unilateral superplant, where there are two abutment teeth, often two teeth can be placed on the saddle without using an implant. Example: The superplant reduces the transversal movements of the root as compared with the single tooth in Figure 287, but the movably attached saddle increases the movements as compared with the single root.