caducous

American  

[kuh-doo-kuhs, -dyoo-] / kəˈdu kəs, -ˈdyu- /

adjective

1. Botany. dropping off very early, as leaves.

2. Zoology. subject to shedding.

3. transitory; perishable.

---

caducous British  

/ kəˈdjuːkəs /

adjective

1. biology (of parts of a plant or animal) shed during the life of the organism

---

caducous Scientific  

/ kə-do̅o̅′kəs /

1. Detaching or dropping off at an early stage of development. The gills of most amphibians and the sepals or stipules of certain plants are caducous.

---

Etymology

Origin of caducous

First recorded in 1675–85 for obsolete sense; 1805–10 for current senses; from Latin cadūcus “unsteady, perishable,” equivalent to cad(ere) “to fall” + -ūcus adjective suffix ( -ous )

Example Sentences

They invariably come laden with words that seem meant to prove his vocabulary is bigger than yours: flocculent, crapulent, caducous, anaglypta, mephitic, velutinous.

From New York Times

Achenes short and thick, compressed or turgid, truncate, glabrous; pappus of 2–8 caducous awns.

From Project Gutenberg

Sepals.—Three; strongly arched, covered with bristly appressed hairs; caducous.

From Project Gutenberg

Calyx, 5 rounded sepals, tuberculate at the base, imbricated, caducous.

From Project Gutenberg

The first and the second glumes are unequal, persistent or separately caducous.

From Project Gutenberg