1. Growing or living on the surface of the ground or soil.
Usage: botany; biology
2. (of a seed or seedling) Having cotyledons that emerge above the soil surface during germination.
Usage: botany

Examples

• Beans are epigeous plants because their cotyledons push above the ground as they sprout.
• The epigeous growth habit allows seedlings to photosynthesize immediately after germination.
• Unlike peanuts, which develop underground, most legumes are epigeous.
• Epigeous fungi grow on the surface of decaying wood rather than within it.
• The botanist classified the species as epigeous based on its above-ground development pattern.