polster

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Apparently cognate with German Polster”)

Noun

polster (plural polsters)

(botany) A clump of moss; a glacier mouse.
- 1915 April, F. J. Smiley, “The alpine and subapline vegetation of the Lake Tahoe region”, in Botanical Gazette, volume 59, page 265:
  It is on this rocky surface that one finds many of the growth forms associated with extreme life conditions: polsters, mat plants, espaliers.
- 1972, Calvin J. Heusser, “Polsters of the moss Drepanocladus berggrenii on Gilkey Glacier, Alaska”, in Torreya‎, volume 99, number 1, pages 34–36:
  The polsters give the glacier the appearance of a cobble-strewn surface.
- 1991, P. R. Cundill, “Comparisons of moss polster and pollen trap data: a pilot study”, in Grana, volume 30, number 2, →DOI:
  Moss polsters were sampled using an equivalent surface cross-section area to that of the traps.

Anagrams

petrols, plestor, replots, torples

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