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BRACTEA

Volume 4 · 90 words · 1815 Edition

in Natural History, denotes a spangle, or thin flake of any substance.

in Botany, a thin leaf or plate of any folium florale, ranged by Linnaeus among the fulcrata of plants. These floral leaves differ in shape and colour, from the other folia of the plant; are generally situated on the pendunculus, and often so near the corolla as to be easily mistaken for the calyx; than which, however, the bracteae are generally more permanent. Examples of the floral leaves are seen in the tilia, fumaria bulbosa, lavandula and horminum.