A plant that grows poorly or cannot survive in soil containing lime or calcium compounds.
From Latin 'calcis' (lime) + 'fugus' (fleeing). A botanical term created in the 19th century to categorize plants by their calcium tolerance, the opposite of 'calcicole.'
If you're a gardener and you want to grow heathers or carnivorous sundews, you need to understand that these calcifuges are literally rejecting the mineral content most plants crave—they've evolved to thrive in acid bogs and poor soils.
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