See Also: Palea(medicine)
palea(dictionary)

palea (iou)



palea noun. , -eas. LME.
[Latin = chaff.]
1. A straw. Only in LME.
2. Botany. A thin dry bract or scale; esp. (a) (in the floret of a grass) orig., either of the bracts enclosing the stamens and pistil; now, the delicate inner bract (cf. LEMMA noun2 2); (b) a receptacular scale in certain plants of the composite family. M18.
3. Ornithology. A wattle, a dewlap. L19.
paleaceous adjective (Botany) covered with paleae or thin dry scales; of the consistency of chaff: M18.