an invertebrate which resembles a plant in appearance or mode of growth, as for example, hard corals, sea fans, and other soft corals, sea anemones, hydroids, bryozoans, sponges, etc., especially any of those that form compound colonies having a tree-like form

literally "animal plant," an archaic term for a sea anemone

zoo-fite A plantlike animal, esp. a coral, sea anemone, or sponge.