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spikelet

[ spahyk-lit ]

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.


spikelet

/ 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
“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

spikelet

/ spīklĭt /

  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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Word History and Origins

Origin of spikelet1

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

In flower, their spikelets extend another 6-10 inches above the foliage.

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

More slender, with narrow leaves, the spikelets smaller, and the crests of the matured calyx of nearly distinct rigid processes—Col. to Tex., and is reported from Kansas.

The minute flowers are arranged in spikelets somewhat as in grasses, and these again in larger spike-like or panicled inflorescences.

Pan′icum, a large genus of true grasses having the one or two-flowered spikelets in spikes, racemes, or panicles—including the common millet.

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