Scaber
/SKAY-ber/🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate
Also known as: scabra, scabrum
A texture epithet describing a surface that is rough with tiny, sharp, sandpaper-like projections — scabrous. It implies a roughness finer and more evenly distributed than asper, like a rough file or coarse sandpaper. Appears as scaber (masculine), scabra (feminine), or scabrum (neuter).
Etymology
From Latin scaber, meaning "rough," "scurfy," or "scabby," related to scabere (to scratch).
Example
“Verbascum scabrum and Crepis scabra both have the characteristic fine-grained roughness the epithet describes — a surface you feel before you see, catching the fingertip like very fine sandpaper.”