Glaucous
term used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of birds or plants
Glaucous (from Latin glaucus, from Ancient Greek γλαυκός (glaukós) 'blue-green, blue-grey') is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), glaucous macaw (Anodorhynchus glaucus), and glaucous tanager (Thraupis glaucocolpa).
The term glaucous is also used botanically as an adjective to mean "covered with a greyish, bluish, or whitish waxy coating or bloom that is easily rubbed off" (e.g. glaucous leaves).
The first recorded use of glaucous to refer to color was in the year 1671.
Examples
Botany
The epicuticular wax coating on mature plum fruit gives them a glaucous appearance. Another familiar example is found in the common grape genus (Vitis vinifera). Some cacti have a glaucous coating on their stem(s). Glaucous coatings are hydrophobic so as to prevent wetting by rain. Their waxy character serves to hinder climbing of leaves, stem or fruit by insects. On fruits, glaucous coatings may function as a deterrent to climbing and feeding by small insects in favor of increased seed dispersal offered by larger animals such as mammals and birds.
“Glaucous” enters the record as term used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of birds or plants. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Glaucous, term and used can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Glaucous” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Glaucous, term and used provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q310115. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1671.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Glaucous” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.