spec. The flat lanceolate leaves of grass and cereals; esp. such as spring from the root and appear first above ground; also the whole of such…

A root of a grass plant. Also (and in earliest use): this as representing the level of the earth's surface. Usually in plural.

The stiff flower-stalk of grasses. (In this sense bennet prevails in the southern counties.)

A name given to the catkin, inflorescence, or seed of various plants. The spikes or spikelets of grasses, carices, and the like. Obsolete.

The tip of a blade of grass. Also occasionally as a mass noun: the grass of a field, pasture, etc.

Botany. An articulation or joint; esp. a bent joint in some grasses (cf. kneed, adj. 1b, knee-sick). Obsolete.

Botany. = spikelet, n.1 Obsolete.

Botany.

A small group of florets in grasses, forming part of the spike.

Botany. (See quot. 1793.)

(see quot. 1796).

= spikelet, n.1

The inner involucrum of the flowers of grasses.

Botany. An anterior cotyledon in certain grasses.

‘The zigzag rachis of the spikelets of grasses’ (Treasury Bot. 1866).

In grasses: the floral axis, i.e. the axis on which the florets are borne within the spikelet (cf. rachis, n. 3a). Also (in palms): the ultimate…

(see quots.).

The sheath enveloping the radicle or rudimentary root in the embryo of grasses and other phanerogams; the root-sheath.

Botany. The flat dorsal cotyledon of a grass. ? Obsolete.

Botany. In grasses, the lower bract of a floret.