noun
- small scales at the base of grass flowers that help open the flower during blooming
Usage: botanical
Examples
- The lodicules swelled with water to force open the grass floret.
- Botanists examined the lodicules under a microscope to study the flowering mechanism.
- When the lodicules expand, they push apart the lemma and palea.
- The tiny lodicules are crucial for successful pollination in grasses.
- Rice flowers have two lodicules that control the opening process.