[2] Lithophytes that grow on land feed off nutrients from rain water and nearby decaying plants, including their own dead tissue.
It is easier for chasmophytes to acquire nutrients because they grow in fissures in rocks where soil or organic matter has accumulated.
These two types of fungi live inter- and intracellularly with the roots of lithophytes and a wide variety of other plant species.
Some wall plants even have 'wall' or 'muralis' as part of their common or scientific name such as wall-flower (Erysimum cheiri) or ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis), which shows their long established relationship with these man-made structures.English HeritageLandscape Advice Note: Vegetation on Walls [4]Examples of lithophytes include many orchids such as Dendrobium and Paphiopedilum, bromeliads such as Tillandsia, as well as many ferns, algae and liverworts.
[5] As nutrients tend to be rarely available to lithophytes or chasmophytes, many species of carnivorous plants can be viewed as being pre-adapted to life on rocks.