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Glabrescens

/gla-BRES-enz/
🏷️ Taxonomy●●● Advanced

A texture epithet describing a plant that is hairy when young but loses its hairs as it matures — becoming glabrous or nearly so. The -escens suffix records this as a dynamic process. Appears as glabrescens (both genders).

Etymology

From Latin glabrescens, present participle of glabrare (to become smooth), from glaber (smooth).

Example

Salix glabrescens and Carex glabrescens are both plants that emerge with pubescence but become increasingly smooth-surfaced as the season progresses.