Sentence:  In the Great Pavilion, the nurserymen and women have been employing their dark arts, too; coaxing agapanthus into bloom two months early, cosseting iris with wads of strategically placed cotton wool or touching up the <WSD>farinaceous</WSD>, fan-shaped fronds of a Bismarck palm with face powder. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Having a floury texture; grainy.