mesophyten.
/ˈmɛsə(ʊ)fʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈmɛzəˌfaɪt/; see also meso- comb. form. Botany.† 1. In J. Clarion's terminology: the line of demarcation between the stem and the root of a plant. Obsolete. rare.
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1891 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Mesophyte, applied by Clarion to that which is commonly called the vital knot in plants, that is to say, the line of demarcation between the ascending and descending parts of the vegetable.
2. A plant belonging to a class intermediate between hydrophytes and xerophytes, i.e. one needing only a moderate amount of water.
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the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [noun] > that likes medium conditions
meiotherm1875
mesophyte1896
mesomorph1944
1896 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23 286 According to the modifying factors the plant societies are divided [by Warming] into the following great groups: hydrophytes, xerophytes, halophytes and mesophytes.
1902 J. M. Coulter Plant Studies 175 There is a great middle region of medium water supply, and plants which occupy it are known as mesophytes, the plants of medium conditions.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. xii. 290 In a mesophyte adapted..to difficult water conditions transpiration is actually increased during the period when the water situation is temporarily easy, but it is efficiently stopped when difficulty arises.
1973 Nature 20 Apr. 535/2 Pohlia nutans is a mesophyte, becoming almost xerophytic in some habitats.
1992 Plant, Cell & Environment 15 411 When growing in full sunlight the annual crop species and a perennial mesophyte had high rates of photosynthesis.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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