A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

lurid: see luridus,-a,-um (adj.A)

1) Pale yellow, wan, sallow, ghastly [> L. luridus); “archaic: dingy brown or yellowish brown - used of a plant” (WIII); “of any of several light or medium grayish colors ranging in hue from yellow to orange” (WIII); “smoky yellow” (Stearn 1996).

Hygrohypnum luridum, a pleurocarpous moss, “the name of the species refers to a “dirty” shade of yellow-brown” (C&A).

2) shining with the color of a glowing fire seen through smoke; suffused with red.

3) brown, tinged with red, given by Saccardo as the same as 'sordid', by Wharton (1844-45) as sallow or wan; “dirty brown, a little clouded” (Lindley); ‘paler and less yellow than 'melleous'[honey-colored] (S&D).

4) very vivid in color, especially so as to create an unpleasantly harsh or unnatural effect (Oxford Dictionaries); however this dictionary presumes the word derived (mid 17th century) from luror,-oris (s.m.III), abl. sg. lurore: a yellowish color, sallowness, paleness; other dictionaries include as synonyms glaring, bright, bloody, intense, flaming, vivid, fiery, livid, sanguine, glowering, overbright. Some suggest it may be associated with lutum, a yellow dye.