What does bract mean?
A bract is a modified leaf found at the base of a flower, flower stalk, or flower cluster, usually differing from ordinary foliage leaves in size, shape, or colour. Though often small and green, bracts can be large, vividly coloured, and easily mistaken for petals — as in the poinsettia, whose striking red display consists entirely of bracts surrounding tiny true flowers, or in flowering dogwood, where white bracts frame each small blossom. Botanists attach considerable importance to bracts: their position, shape, and arrangement are frequently diagnostic features in identifying plant families, especially among grasses, sedges, and composite flowers. The word is a technical term of botany and horticulture rather than everyday speech, but it surfaces regularly in garden writing and plant descriptions. Understanding it clarifies a common confusion about where one plant ends and its 'flowers' truly begin.
nounA specialized leaf, typically small and differing in shape or colour from ordinary foliage leaves, found at the base of a flower stalk or inflorescence. In plants such as poinsettias and dogwoods, brightly coloured bracts are often mistaken for petals.
- A modified leaf situated at the base of a flower, flower stalk, or inflorescence, often smaller than ordinary leaves and sometimes coloured or otherwise conspicuous.
"The poinsettia's showy red display is not made of petals at all, but of modified leaves known as bracts."
"In bougainvillea, the papery magenta bracts surround the small, inconspicuous true flowers."
"Botanists often rely on bract shape and arrangement as key characters when identifying grasses and sedges."
Standard plural; used freely when referring to multiple bracts on one plant or across species.
"The inflorescence is subtended by two pairs of green bracts."
That dazzling red 'flower' on your Christmas poinsettia? It's not a flower at all — the real blooms are the tiny yellow bits in the middle, and the red show-stealers are bracts.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bract
The English word "bract" derives from the Latin "bractea", meaning a thin plate of metal, especially gold leaf, and by extension anything thin and flattened. The term was adopted into botanical Latin and entered English usage in the eighteenth century as botanists formalized their descriptive vocabulary. Its derivative forms in English include the adjective "bracteate" (bearing bracts) and the diminutive "bracteole", both likewise drawn from the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How bract is actually used
"Bract" is a technical term used chiefly in botany and horticulture; it rarely appears in casual conversation except around ornamental plants like poinsettias and dogwoods. It is neutral in connotation and identical in British and American English. Related technical terms such as "bracteole" (a small secondary bract) belong to specialist usage.
Easily confused with bract
A sepal is part of the calyx forming the outermost whorl of the flower itself, while a bract is an associated modified leaf positioned outside the flower on its stalk.
A stipule is an appendage at the base of a normal foliage leaf's stalk, whereas a bract is a modified leaf associated with a flower or inflorescence.