Word Study
ligneous
CIDE DICTIONARY
ligneous, a. [L. ligneus, fr. lignum wood. Cf. Lignous.].
Made of wood; consisting of wood; of the nature of, or resembling, wood; woody. [1913 Webster]
"It should be tried with shoots of vines and roots of red roses; for it may be they, being of a moreligneous nature, will incorporate with the tree itself." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
ligneous, adj.
1 (of a plant) woody (opp. HERBACEOUS).
2 of the nature of wood.
1 (of a plant) woody (opp. HERBACEOUS).
2 of the nature of wood.
Etymology
L ligneus (as LIGNI-)
ROGET THESAURUS
ligneous
Vegetable
N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.For further exploring for "ligneous" in Webster Dictionary Online