fruticose

[froo-ti-kohs]

adjective

1. having the form of a shrub; shrublike.

2. Botany, Mycology.,  having branched stalks, as certain lichens.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fruticose¹

1660–70; < Latin fruticōsus full of shrubs, bushy, equivalent to frutic- (stem of frutex ) shrub + -ōsus -ose ¹

Example Sentences

Fruticose lichens have thalli that are branch-, cup- or club-like, imparting the look of tiny shrubs.

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Fruticose or Shrubby, woody, living from year to year, and of considerable size,—not, however, more than three or four times the height of a man.

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The most curious tree is one which with the true appearance of an Elæagnus, seems to be a Loranthus, the first arborescent species yet found, although, as one or two other exceptions occur to parasitism, there is no reason why there should not be a terrestrial arborescent species, as well as a fruticose one. 

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Of the genus Urtica, whose numerous species can simply be considered as of herbaceous duration, although a few of tropical existence assume a fruticose habit, there is one plant in the vicinity of the Colony of Port Jackson, remarkable for its gigantic, arborescent growth; many specimens having been remarked from fifteen to twenty feet in height, of proportional robust habit, and of highly stimulating nature.

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