Phytotelma is a term for water bodies

Body of water

A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, usually covering the Earth or another planet. The term body of water most often refers to large accumulations of water, such as oceans, seas, and lakes, but it may also include smaller pools of water such as ponds, puddles or...

 held by plants. The water accumulated on these plants may serve as substratum for associated fauna, and often the fauna associated with phytotelmata is unique.

A classification of phytotelma recognizes five principal types: bromeliad tanks, pitcher plant

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over...

s, water-filled tree hollow

Tree hollow

A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. These are predominantly found in old trees, whether living or not...

s, bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 internodes, and axil water (collected at the base of leaves, petals or bracts).

Etymology

The word phytotelma derives from the Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 roots phyto-, meaning 'plant', and telma, meaning 'pond'. Thus, the correct singular

Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....

is phytotelma.

The term was coined by L. Varga in 1928.

External links

• http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/frank/bromeliadbiota/bromfit.htm Bromeliad Biota - Phytotelmata.