involucre

American  

[in-vuh-loo-ker] / ˈɪn vəˌlu kər /

noun

1. Botany.  a collection or rosette of bracts subtending a flower cluster, umbel, or the like.

2. a covering, especially a membranous one.

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involucre British  

/ ˈɪnvəˌluːkə, ˌɪnvəˈluːkrəm /

noun

1. a ring of bracts at the base of an inflorescence in such plants as the composites

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involucre Scientific  

/ ĭn′-və-lo̅o̅′kər /

1. A series of bracts beneath or around a flower or flower cluster. The cupule, the cuplike structure holding an oak acorn, is a modified, woody involucre.

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Other Word Forms

• involucral adjective
• involucrate adjective

Etymology

Origin of involucre

1570–80; < Middle French < Latin involūcrum involucrum

Example Sentences

Empty glumes side by side in front of the spikelets, 6 in number, forming a kind of involucre, slender and awn-pointed or bristle-form.

From Project Gutenberg

Composed of several florets within a common involucre, as in the daisy; or of several carpels formed from one flower, as in the raspberry.

From Project Gutenberg

Leeches are oviparous, and their ova are discharged in one involucre near the surface and margin of pools, and are hatched by the heat of the sun.

From Project Gutenberg

Subtended, supported or surrounded; as a pedicel by a bract, or a flower-cluster by an involucre.

From Project Gutenberg

What is known as the “hen-and-chicken” daisy has the main head surrounded by a brood of sometimes as many as ten or twelve small heads, formed in the axils of the scales of the involucre.

From Project Gutenberg