bract

bract

a specialized leaf, usually smaller than the foliage leaves, with a single flower or inflorescence growing in its axil

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bract

[brakt]

(botany)

A modified leaf associated with plant reproductive structures.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Bract

 

a leaf in whose axil the flower develops; a leaf enveloping a flower shoot. Bracts are smaller than ordinary leaves and are reduced. Only in a few plants, such as sage, are they large and colorful. Sometimes, for example, in Cruciferae and dill, the bracts fall early.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.