A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Limestone, a rock, “chiefly formed by accumulation of organic remains (as shells or coral), that consists mainly of calcium carbonate” (WIII): calx, gen. sg. calcis (s.f. or m.III), abl. sg. calce, nom. & acc. pl. calces; lime, chalk or limestone; saxum,-i (s.n.II) calcareum (adj.A), abl. sg. saxo calcareo; see chalk; see stone.

NOTE: also calcarius,-ii (s.m.II) densus (adj.A), abl. sg. calcario denso: limestone (Stearn).

Sarcophagus,-pl. i sarcophagus (lapis) limestone, used for coffins fr. Gk. (lithos) sarkophagos, lit. flesh-eating stone, from. sark + phagos phagein, to eat “obs: s limestone used among the Greeks for the construction of coffins and held to disintegrate the flesh of bodies deposited in it” (WIII); “sarcophagus lapis, a kind of limestone used for coffins (so called because the corpses were quickly consumed by it); sarcophagus,-i (s.m.II) (also sarcophagum,-i (s.n.II): a grave, sepulchre” (Lewis & Short).