anthophilous

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 12, 2012 is: anthophilous • \an-THAH-fuh-lus\  • adjective : feeding upon or living among flowers Examples: The students studied the behaviors of the anthophilous insects found in the field. "While about 30 families of beetles contain at least a few examples of flower visitors, the main anthophilous groups today - those that are of real importance as flower pollinators - are soldier beetles (Cantharidae) and longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae)." - From Pat Willmer’s Pollination and Floral Ecology, 2011 Did you know? Parrots love eucalyptus flowers. That's because anthophilous birds are naturally attracted to "ornithophilous" flowers-which is to say, flowers that are pollinated by birds. The "-philous" in both of those terms is the combining form that means "loving" (from Greek "-philos"). "Anthophilous" uses the Greek word "anthos," meaning "flower," while "ornithophilous" traces back to Greek "ornis," meaning "bird." "Ornithophilous" is one of a whole swarm of specialized words that identify flowers in terms of the flower-loving creatures that pollinate them. "Entomophilous" flowers, for example, are pollinated by anthophilous insects, such as bees. There's even a word specifically for plants that are pollinated by bees: "melittophilous" (from the Greek word "melitta," meaning "bee"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.