crustose

[ kruhs-tohs ]

adjectiveBotany, Mycology.

forming a crusty, tenaciously fixed mass that covers the surface on which it grows, as certain lichens.

Origin of crustose

1875–80; <Latin crustōsus covered with a crust, equivalent to crust(a) crust + -ōsus-ose¹

Compare foliose, fruticose.

Words Nearby crustose

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use crustose in a sentence

On shaded sandstone, intermingled with an ash-gray, crustose thallus, which appeared like a sterile Pertusaria.
Ohio Biological Survey, Bull. 10, Vol. 11, No. 6 | Bruce Fink and Leafy J. Corrington

British Dictionary definitions for crustose

crustose

/ (ˈkrʌstəʊs) /

adjective

biology having a crustlike appearance: crustose lichens

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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