What is "rimose"

Rimose \Ri*mose"\, a. [L. rimosus, fr. rima a chink: cf. F. rimeux.]

1. Full of rimes, fissures, or chinks.

2. (Nat. Hist.) Having long and nearly parallel clefts or chinks, like those in the bark of trees.

a. Having a surface covered with cracks, fissures, or crevices.

adj. having a surface covered with a network of cracks and small crevices; "a tree with rimose bark"

Rimose is an adjective used to describe a surface that is cracked or fissured. The term is often used in describing crustose lichens. A rimose surface of a lichen is sometimes contrasted to the surface being areolate. Areolate is an extreme form of being rimose, where the cracks or fissures are so deep that they create island-like pieces called areoles, which look the "islands" of mud on the surface of a dry lake bed. Rimose and areolate are contrasted with being verrucose, or "warty". Verrucose surfaces have warty bumps which are distinct, but not separated by cracks.