spikelet

American  

[spahyk-lit] / ˈspaɪk lɪt /

noun

Botany.

1. a small or secondary spike in grasses; one of the flower clusters, the unit of inflorescence, consisting of two or more flowers and subtended by one or more glumes variously disposed around a common axis.

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spikelet British  

/ ˈspaɪklɪt /

noun

1. botany the unit of a grass inflorescence, typically consisting of two bracts (glumes) surrounding one or more florets, each of which is itself surrounded by two bracts See lemma 1 palea

2. the small inflorescence of plants of other families, esp the sedges

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spikelet Scientific  

/ spīk′lĭt /

1. A small spike, especially one that is part of the characteristic inflorescence of grasses and sedges. A grass spikelet consists of one or more florets (reduced flowers). Each floret contains a pistil and stamens and is enclosed by two bracts, the lemma and the palea. At the base of the entire spikelet are two additional scalelike bracts, the glumes.

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Etymology

Origin of spikelet

First recorded in 1785–95; spike ² + -let

Example Sentences

On my desk, now, there’s a glass vial containing a single ear of wheat, each spikelet charred black at its edges.

From New York Times • Dec. 7, 2022

They are commonly firm and strong, often enclose the spikelet, and are rarely provided with long points or imperfect awns.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

Spikelets 1–4-flowered, subterete, usually in dense heads; scales oppressed, several-nerved, the lower empty and often persistent after the fall of the rest of the spikelet; joints of the rhachis winged, enclosing the triangular achene.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Below the spikelet the stem has from 3 to 5 sides.

From Philippine Mats Philippine Craftsman Reprint Series No. 1 by Miller, Hugo H.

A bract at the base of a spikelet of a grass.

From The Plants of Michigan Simple Keys for the Identification of the Native Seed Plants of the State by Gleason, Henry Allan