Bract

Some bracts are brightly coloured and serve the function of attracting pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it. Examples of this type of bract include those of Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia) and Bougainvillea: both of these have large colourful bracts surrounding much smaller, less colourful flowers.{{cite book |title=Environment Southwest |date=1986 |publisher=San Diego Society of Natural History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpsbAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}

In grasses, each floret (flower) is enclosed in a pair of papery bracts, called the lemma (lower bract) and palea (upper bract), while each spikelet (group of florets) has a further pair of bracts at its base called glumes. These bracts form the chaff removed from cereal grain during threshing and winnowing.{{cite book |last1=Jensen |first1=William August |last2=Salisbury |first2=Frank B. |title=Botany: an Ecological Approach |date=1972 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-534-00092-9 |page=544 |language=en}}

Bats may detect acoustic signals from dish-shaped bracts such as those of Marcgravia evenia.{{cite journal|author=Ralph Simon|author2=Marc W. Holderied|author3=Corinna U. Koch|author4=Otto von Helversen|s2cid=5035286|title=Floral acoustics: Conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators|journal=Science|volume= 333| issue=6042|pages=631–633|doi=10.1126/science.1204210|pmid=21798950|year=2011|bibcode=2011Sci...333..631S}}

A prophyll is a leaf-like structure, such as a bracteole, subtending (extending under) a single flower or pedicel. The term can also mean the lower bract on a peduncle.

The frequently showy pair of bracts of Euphorbia species in subgenus Lacanthis are the cyathophylls.

Bracts subtend the cone scales in the seed cones of many conifers, and in some cases, such as Pseudotsuga, they extend beyond the cone scales.

File:Castilleja levisecta bracts.jpg|Bright yellow bracts of Castilleja levisecta are more tightly pressed against the stem than bracts of other Castilleja species.

File:Bougainvillea glabra.JPG|Bracts of Bougainvillea glabra, differ in colour from the non-bract leaves, and attract pollinators.

File:Banana bract.jpg|Bracts along a banana flower stalk surround the rows of flowers

File:E milii vulcanii ies.jpg|Euphorbia milii var. vulcanii cyathia bearing a pair of pinkish cyathophylls.

File:Ananas bracteatus var tricolor.jpg|Colourful bracts of Ananas bracteatus.

File:Erigeron peregrinus 6287.JPG|The many green involucral bracts of Erigeron peregrinus are linear, loose, taper to a point, about the same length, and help to distinguish this species.

File:Blooming Dogwood.jpg|Dogwood species Cornus florida inflorescence showing four large white bracts and central flower cluster.

File:2013-05-10 08 26 08 Closeup of pink dogwoods at the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest headquarters.jpg|Cornus florida dogwood cultivar with pink bracts surrounding small flower cluster.

File:豔紅苞鳳梨 20190712192436.jpg|The red bracts of Aechmea bracteata.

File:女王鬱金 20190715203108 01.jpg|The pink bracts of Curcuma petiolata.

File:火鶴 20190729181532.jpg|The pink bract of a new cultivar: Anthurium andraeanum 'Pink Lady'.

File:豔山姜花序總苞 20190508131956.jpg|The inflorescence of Alpinia zerumbet protected by two bracts before flower bloom.

File:地湧金蓮 Musella lasiocarpa 20201028130818 01.jpg|The golden bracts of Musella lasiocarpa.

A small bract is called a bracteole or bractlet. Technically this is any bract that arises on a pedicel instead of subtending it.

== Involucral bracts ==

Image:Leafy-bract-Beggar-ticks.we.jpg)]]

Bracts that appear in a whorl subtending an inflorescence are collectively called an involucre. An involucre is a common feature beneath the inflorescences of many Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Dipsacaceae and Polygonaceae. Each flower in an inflorescence may have its own whorl of bracts, in this case called an involucel. In this case they may be called chaff, paleas, or receptacular bracts and are usually minute scales or bristles. Many asteraceous plants have bracts at the base of each inflorescence.{{Cite report |title=Bidens frondosa (beggarticks) |last=Popay |first=I |date=2022-01-07 |doi=10.1079/cabicompendium.108916 |language=en|doi-access=free }}

The term involucre is also used for a highly conspicuous bract or bract pair at the base of an inflorescence. In the family Betulaceae, notably in the genera Carpinus and Corylus, the involucre is a leafy structure that protects the developing nuts. Beggar-tick (Bidens comosa) has narrow involucral bracts surrounding each inflorescence, each of which also has a single bract below it. There is then a pair of leafy bracts on the main stem and below those a pair of leaves.

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Image:Hibiscus rosa-sinensis3 ies.jpg]]

An epicalyx, which forms an additional whorl around the calyx of a single flower, is a modification of bracteoles{{cite book|last=Darpan|first=Pratiyogita|title=Competition Science Vision|date=June 2006|publisher=Pratiyogita Darpan|page=136}} In other words, the epicalyx is a group of bracts resembling a calyx or bracteoles forming a whorl outer to the calyx.{{cite web |url=http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/books/12/std12-botany-em.pdf |title=Botany |access-date=2010-08-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214091359/http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/Books/12/Std12-Botany-EM.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-14 }} It is a calyx-like extra whorl of floral appendages. Each individual segment of the epicalyx is called an episepal because they resemble the sepals in them.{{cite web |url=http://botanydictionary.org/epicalyx.html |title=epicalyx – Dictionary of botany |publisher=Botanydictionary.org |access-date=2012-04-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120501223013/http://botanydictionary.org/epicalyx.html |archive-date=2012-05-01 }} They are present in the hibiscus family, Malvaceae. Fragaria (strawberries) may or may not have an epicalyx.

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Image:Anthurium scherzerianum 2.jpg inflorescence with spathe and spadix]]

A spathe is a large bract or pair of bracts forming a sheath to enclose the flower cluster of such plants as palms, arums, irises,Richard Lynch {{Google books|grvYTul5CSUC|The Book of the Iris|page=203}} crocuses,Alex Casha {{Google books|Poo9CgAAQBAJ|Flora of the Maltese Islands|page=287}} and dayflowers (Commelina). Zephyranthes tubispatha in the Amaryllidaceae derives its specific name from its tubular spathe. In many arums (family Araceae), the spathe is petal-like, attracting pollinators to the flowers arranged on a type of spike called a spadix.

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• Pedicel
• Flower
• Nectary
• Glossary of botanical terms

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Category:Plant morphology

Category:Leaves