A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

exilis,-e (adj.B); compar. exilior,-ius (adj.B); superl. exillimus,-a,-um (adj.A) (superl. not occuring in classical Latin (Lewis & Short)]: “long and straight; slender” (Lindley); “thin, meagre; lank and straight” (Jackson) [> L. exilis,-e (adj.B), small, lean, meagre, weak, feeble, thin, slender; insignificant, inadequate (= opp. gravis,-e); wretched, poor; void, free + gen.; syn. tenuis, gracilis, tener; macer; opp. pinguis,-e (adj.B), fat, rich; see thin perexilis,-e (adj.A): very thin, etc.

meager (Eng. adj.): (of something provided or available) deficient or lacking in quantity or quality; thin, having little flesh; poor, scant; skimpy; implies the absence of elements, qualities, non descript (lacking distinctive or interesting features, qualities or characteristics, featureless; indistinct insignificant.

solum exile (adj.B) et macrum (adj.A), a soil that is meagre [i.e. sterile] and poor [i.e. barren].

- solum (s.n.II) exile, poor i.e. sterile soil.

- omnium minima: oculo inermi vix visibilis, punctillum exilissimum referens, etiam per lentem modice augmentem Sphaeriolam Pezizulamve exiguam ostendit (S&A), the smallest of them all: with the naked [i.e. unarmed by a lens] eye scarcely visible,representing the weakest little dots, also it shows moderately augmented through the lens a meager Sphaeria [diminutive] or Peziza [diminutive].

perexilis,-e (adj.A): very thin.

Ruellia exilis McDade & E. Tripp, "the specific epithet means ‘thin, slender, meager’ and refers to the narrow leaves, delicate inflorescence branches, and diminutive size of flowers and fruits" (from the protologue).

Fissidens exilis Hedw., a rare moss which is pale and meagre in appearance, with a few thin leaves compared to other mosses, on bare clay, fruiting in late winter; Bryum exile, a tiny almost invisible moss.