Glume
One of two bracts enclosing a flower spikelet in grasses
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Urochloa_mosambicensis_spikelet12_annotated_-_Flickr_-_Macleay_Grass_Man.jpg/250px-Urochloa_mosambicensis_spikelet12_annotated_-_Flickr_-_Macleay_Grass_Man.jpg)
In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses (Poaceae) or the flowers of sedges (Cyperaceae). There are two other types of bracts in the spikelets of grasses: the lemma and palea.
In grasses, two bracts known as "glumes" form the lowermost organs of a spikelet (there are usually two but one is sometimes reduced; or rarely, both are absent).[1] Glumes may be similar in form to the lemmas, the bracts at the base of each floret.
In sedges, by contrast, a glume is a scale at the base of each flower in a spikelet.[2]