Sunday Word: Marcescent

[sallymn]

marcescent [mahr-ses-uhnt]

adjective:
withering but not falling off, as a part of a plant.

(click to enlarge)
Examples:

A bonus design tip for gardeners: A row of marcescent trees, although not technically evergreen, makes for an effective, nearly year-round screen. (Margaret Roach, How to Read the Tree Leaves, The New York Times, November 2022)

Another possible benefit to younger, shorter trees is that marcescent leaves appear to help protect against browsing by deer and moose. The leaves are lower in nutrients and more difficult to digest than new buds (which are present throughout the winter). (Susan Pike, Some trees retain leaves all winter long, Seacoastonline, February 2015)

I apologize if the metaphor is a little too on the nose, but the dissolution of a partnership such as marriage, feels marcescent. Sometimes I get mad at myself for hanging on too long to this or that aspect of my dead marriage, but that process just may be protective. (Brandy Renee McCann, Marcescent, Appalbrandy, March 2022)

The parchment-colored leaves riding out the winter - marcescent, he tells her - shining out against the neighboring bare hardwoods. (Richard Powers, The Overstory)

Origin:

'withering, liable to decay, ephemeral,' 1727, from Latin marcescentem (nominative marcescens), present participle of marcescere 'to wither, languish, droop, decay, pine away,' inchoative of marcere 'to wither, droop, be faint,' from Proto-Italic mark-e-, from PIE root merk- 'to decay' (source also of Sanskrit marka- 'destruction, death;' Avestan mareka- 'ruin;' Lithuanian mirkti 'become weak,' merkti 'to soak;' Ukrainian dialect morokva 'quagmire, swamp,' Middle High German meren 'dip bread into water or wine,' perhaps also Middle Irish mraich, Welsh brag 'a sprouting out; malt'). (Online Etymology Dictionary)