Meaning & use
glume
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Meaning
nouncountablebiology
One of the two small, dry, leaf-like scales at the bottom of a grass flower cluster, usually found in pairs.
Grammar: Usually plural, since there are normally two: the glumes of wheat.
Patterns
- the glumes of something
Botanists identify wheat varieties partly by the shape of the glume.
After threshing, the dry glumes are separated from the grain.
The lower glume was shorter than the upper one.
Word forms
| plural | glumes |
|---|
Common combinations
- lower glume
- The lower glume is often narrower than the upper.
- upper glume
- The upper glume clasped the first floret.
- pair of glumes
- Each spikelet has a pair of glumes at its base.
- glume of wheat
- The glume of wheat can be tough to remove.
- hairy glume
- A hairy glume helps tell this grass from similar species.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bract
- A bract is a broader botanical term for a modified leaf near a flower, while a glume is the specific scale on grass spikelets.
- husk
- Husk is the everyday word for the dry outer covering of grain, whereas glume names one precise part of it.
- chaff
- Chaff refers to the loose dry waste separated from grain, so it covers glumes but is not a scientific term.
Word family
- glumaceous adjective
- having glumes or looking like them
- glumella noun
- a small scale-like part inside a glume (botany)
- spikelet noun
- the small flower unit of a grass, where glumes are found
- floret noun
- a tiny flower within a spikelet
Commonly confused: glume or glum?
glume vs glum
Glum is an adjective meaning gloomy or sad and has nothing to do with plants; glume has the extra silent e.
Practice
A glume is best described as...
Choose one answer.
Glumes are dry bracts at the base of grass flower clusters. The others are different plant parts.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “glume”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.