I'll change consciousness into "organic functionality", if that would make more sense.
"Death matter" (If we want to call it like this), like metal or plastic, would be not excluded, because they have no direct "organic functionality" like a circulatory system, nerves, organs, cells or anything that indicates life, but are, for sure, still existing.
PS: Thx for the help in making this definition better :D

NYTimes Article

1. Plants probably have some sort of conciousness 2. I directly reffered to things that are already dead and death excludes conciousness. 3. I'm probably gonna change describable into reasonable, so it makes more sense. Thx for your opinion anyways