bract

• bracte, bractea

From Latin bractea (“a thin plate of metal; gold leaf”).

bract (plural bracts)

1. (botany) A leaf or leaf-like structure from the axil out of which a stalk of a flower or an inflorescence arises.
   • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, p. 9:

     In this vegetable monster the bractes, or divisions of the spike, become wonderfully enlarged; and are converted into leaves.

   • 1793, Thomas Martyn, The Language of Botany

     A Verticil or Whirl may be […] Naked; that is without involucre, bracte or brittle. Bracted - or Involucred