Describing organisms, especially plants, that cannot tolerate or actively avoid calcium-rich soils and prefer acidic conditions.
From 'calci-' (calcium) + '-phobic' (fearing, from Greek 'phobos'). The -ic suffix makes it adjectival.
Calciphobic plants have become specialists in acid soil—it's an evolutionary strategy, like how some animals are temperature specialists. Nature creates biological preferences based on where organisms first evolved.
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