Skip to main content

Villosus

/vil-OH-sus/
🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate

Also known as: villosa, villosum

A texture epithet describing a surface covered in long, soft, shaggy or floppy hairs — villous, like a coarse shag carpet. The hairs are longer and softer than those of pilosus and less dense than tomentosus. Appears as villosus (masculine), villosa (feminine), or villosum (neuter).

Etymology

From Latin villosus, meaning "shaggy" or "covered in long hairs," from villus (a shaggy hair, fleece).

Example

Vicia villosa (hairy vetch) and Rosa villosa (downy rose) both have the characteristically long, soft, shaggy hairs the epithet describes — a texture that is the next step beyond pubescens in both length and floppiness.