marcescent, a. (n.) Bot.
(mɑːˈsɛsənt)
[ad. L. marcēscent-em, pr. pple. of marcēscĕre, inceptive f. marcēre to be faint or languid.]
A. adj. Of parts of a plant: Withering but not falling off.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II. 1777 Robson Brit. Flora 29, 32. 1870 Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 2) 222 When it is persistent and assumes a shrivelled or withered appearance, it is marcescent. 1904 J. C. Willis Man. Flowering Plants (ed. 2) 77 If it [sc. the perianth] remains unwithered round the fruit, persistent, withered, marcescent, enlarged as in Physalis, accrescent. 1964 Acta Phytogeographica Suecica XLIX. 51 (caption) Around the stem..there is a dense insulating mantle of marcescent dry leaves. 1974 Kew Bull. XXIX. 536 The stems of forest species of Giant Lobelia are usually bare of marcescent foliage. |
B. n. A plant having marcescent parts.
| 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 254/2 A single cell of the leaf of a marcescent..is seen still to contain a primordial vesicle. |
Hence marˈcescence [see -ence], marcescent condition.
| 1857 Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 232/2 Cessation of vegetation and marcescence. 1890 Temple Bar Nov. 443 They are ugly in their marcescence and scent incipient putrefaction. 1974 New Phytologist LXXIII. 981 Mature pachycauls..exhibit several characteristics often associated with the ‘juvenile’ stages of trees, e.g. wide pith, presence of starch-sheath, unbranched axis and marcescence. |