palea
[pey-lee-uh]
- a chafflike scale or bract.
- the scalelike, membranous organ in the flowers of grasses that is situated upon a secondary axis in the axil of the flowering glume and envelops the stamens and pistil.
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Origin of palea
1745–55; < New Latin, special use of Latin palea chaff
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for palea
Historical Examples
The palea is as long as the glume, 2-toothed or not at the apex.
A Handbook of Some South Indian GrassesRai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
The third glume is hyaline, empty, nerveless and without a palea.
A Handbook of Some South Indian GrassesRai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar
The awn or beard is merely an elongation of the palea inferior.
The long slender awn is inserted below the bifid tip of the palea.
GrassesH. Marshall Ward
Caryopsis grooved, blunt and more tightly held in the palea.
GrassesH. Marshall Ward
palea
pale
- the inner of two bracts surrounding each floret in a grass spikeletCompare lemma 1
- any small membranous bract or scale
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Word Origin
C18: from Latin: straw, chaff; see pallet 1
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
palea
[pā′lēə]
- The inner or upper of the two bracts enclosing one of the small flowers within a grass spikelet.
- The chaffy scales on the receptacle of a flower head in a plant of the composite family.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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