friable

Spiders had woven their vague trapezes between the friable heads of dead peonies in enormous glass jars streaked with tide marks where the water had evaporated long ago.

This light, friable type of material offered excellent insulation against both desert heat and also the cold of darkness during the winter.

So while two men under his directions were digging the grave with sticks in the friable granitic soil, he superintended the costume of the other actors in the drama.