Epharmony

the adaptability primarily of the external features and anatomic structures of vegetative organs of a plant to its living conditions. The complex of adaptive (epharmonic) features frequently appears to be convergently similar in plants that live in similar conditions but that are not at all related to each other, for example, cacti and succulent milkworts. Epharmony serves as the primary basis for isolating large categories of lifeforms of plants. The term was introduced into botany by the Danish scientist J. E. Warming (1895), who proposed an epharmonic classification of the life forms of plants.