A number of different epiphytes on a tree in Costa Rica

Bromeliad on a Cycad

An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting in Hawaii

Golden poison-dart frogs (Colostethus beebei) are small, warning-coloured tree frogs that live their lives inside the cloud forest's bromeliads.

An epiphyte is a plant which grows on another plant, without being a parasite. The term is also be used for bacteria, fungi, lichens and mosses which grow on plants. However, most epiphytes (89%) are flowering plants; and about a third of all ferns are epiphytes.