bract
a specialized leaf or leaflike part, usually situated at the base of a flower or inflorescence.
Origin of bract
1Other words from bract
- brac·te·al [brak-tee-uhl], /ˈbræk ti əl/, adjective
- bracted, adjective
- bractless, adjective
Words Nearby bract
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bract in a sentence
The male flowers grow in catkins, each arising from a scaly bract, and have a green perianth.
The Sea Shore | William S. FurneauxThis bract, when dead, is bent near the middle and more or less twisted, with the edges curving toward the cluster of nuts.
Seed Dispersal | William J. BealThis bract has attracted a good deal of attention, and for a long time everybody wondered what could be its use.
Seed Dispersal | William J. BealThe little fruit is hung from a broad, flying bract, and as it very slowly sinks to the ground it solemnly turns round and round.
The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott ElliotThat is because the pressure of the air acts on the flat bract just as it does on an aeroplane, and forces it to revolve.
The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot
British Dictionary definitions for bract
/ (brækt) /
a specialized leaf, usually smaller than the foliage leaves, with a single flower or inflorescence growing in its axil
Origin of bract
1Derived forms of bract
- bracteal, adjective
- bractless, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for bract
[ brăkt ]
A modified leaf growing just below a flower or flower stalk. Bracts are generally small and inconspicuous, but some are showy and petallike, as the brightly colored bracts of bougainvillaea or the white or pink bracts of flowering dogwoods.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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