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Definition of bract : 1. A leaf, usually smaller than the true leaves of a plant, from the axil of which a flower stalk arises.
2. Any modified leaf, or scale, on a flower stalk or at the base of a flower.

Synonyms:

bud, blade, bulb, bur, beanstalk, boll, anther, aerial root

Usage examples:

• The curving of the edges of the bract toward the fruit enables the wind to catch it all the better, and to lift it more or less from the snow. - "Seed Dispersal", William J. Beal.
• When torn from the tree the twist in the bract enables the wind to keep the cluster rapidly whirling around, and by whirling it is enabled to remain longer suspended in the air and thus increase the chances for a long journey. - "Seed Dispersal", William J. Beal.
• And yet the name linden was writ large on those trees,- on the beautiful gray bark, the alternate method of twig arrangement, the fat red winter buds, which shone in the sunshine like rubies, and especially on the little cymes of pendulous, pea- like fruit, each cyme attached to its membranaceous bract or wing. - "Some Winter Days in Iowa", Frederick John Lazell.