What does "superplant" mean?

A plant growing on another, such as the mistletoe; an epiphyte.

Superplant

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A plant growing on another, such as the mistletoe; an epiphyte. obsolete
"Experiments in consort touching the rudiments of plants ; and of the excrescences of plants , or superplants"
2
A plant that is particularly robust and which thrives in poor growing conditions or dominates an ecosystem.
"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.""
3
A plant that is unusual in its ability to perform an especially useful function
"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."
4
A plant that can be eaten for particular health benefits or particularly high nutritional value; a superfood.
"Parsley may look like a mild-mannered garnish, but inside lurks the nutrient content of a “superplant.”"
5
A plant that is created through unnatural means, such as genetic engineering, to be stronger than others.
"An artist's fanciful conception of a superplant of the future produced through the processes of DNA technology."

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6
A manufacturing plant that is particularly large and efficient, especially one that combines functions normally handled in separate plants.
"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."
7
A type of prosthesis composed of a fixed saddle rigidly connected to one or more abutments, especially one with subperiosteal implants.
"In a unilateral superplant, where there are two abutment teeth, often two teeth can be placed on the saddle without using an implant."

"Experiments in consort touching the rudiments of plants ; and of the excrescences of plants , or superplants"

From super- + plant.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.