1. Ecology. a species or community living in an environment that has changed from that which is typical for it.
2. a remnant or survivor.
3. a widow.
< Medieval Latin relicta widow, noun use of feminine of Latin relictus, past participle of relinquere to relinquish (dictionary.com)
"Charcoal, piles of stones, and relict stands of crop plants showed that the northeast part of the island had been burned and laboriously converted to garden patches where crops could be planted in natural pockets of soil, extended by piling surface stones into mounds."
- Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
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