ligule

[lig-yool]

noun Botany.

a thin, membranous outgrowth from the base of the blade of most grasses.

a strap-shaped corolla, as in the ray flowers of the head of certain composite plants.

Origin of ligule

1595–1605; < Latin ligula; see ligula

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ligule

Historical Examples of ligule

The ligule is a distinct membrane and the nodes are glabrous.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses
Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
The ligule is distinct, consisting of a fringe of stiff hairs.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses
Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
Anthoxanthum differs in its habit, ears, scent, sheath and ligule.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
Roots very tough and stringy: ligule small, but thick and blunt.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
Changed the last index reference for "Ligule" from 57 to 67; also the reference for "Ocreate."
The Elements of Botany
Asa Gray

British Dictionary definitions for ligule

ligule

ligula

noun

a membranous outgrowth at the junction between the leaf blade and sheath in many grasses and sedges

a strap-shaped corolla, such as that of a ray floret in the daisy

Word Origin for ligule

C19: via French, from Latin ligula strap, variant of lingula, from lingua tongue

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

ligule in Science

ligule

[lĭg′yōōl]

A straplike structure, such as the long flattened lobe of the corolla of a ray flower or a membranous or hairy appendage between the sheath and blade of a grass leaf.