Marcescent

Origin

From Latin marcescens, present participle of marcescere

Full definition of marcescent

Adjective

1. (botany, of an organ, such as a leaf or blossom; rarely also used figurative) Withered, but still attached.
• a. 1893 Edith M. Thomas, The Undertime of the Year, published in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 72 (October 1893), page 452:How often is the flower of human life marcescent, tenacious of its old estate when the blooming-time is past.
• 1990, Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction, page 75:“But,” she answered, “granting that Mon Cul is a remarkable creature, that he is the elder statesman among monkeys, that his marcescent eyelids have opened upon sights and splendors about which the most romantic among us only dream,...”
2. (mycology) Able to revive when moistened.