polster

English

Etymology

From German Polster (“cushion”).

Noun

polster (plural polsters)

1. (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, replots, torples, plestor, Postrel