Poinsettia is a popular bract plant.
A bract is a part of a plant that can resemble a leaf or petal. Structurally, a bract is most similar to a leaf, but it is usually slightly different from the leaves of the plant. Some bracts are green, while others are colored. Colored bracts can be brightly colored and are often mistaken for petals.
Bracts can come in many shapes, sizes, and textures. They can be larger or smaller than the leaves and petals and are generally more resistant. Its main function is to protect the flower from pests and bad weather. When a flower first blooms, it is surrounded by thick green bracts. Some plants have two bracts, while others have several. The flower blooms and grows from the bracts, which remain on the plant and form the base of the flower.
A common runny plant is the poinsettia. In plants such as peanuts and bougainvillea, the bracts are often called “false flowers” because the true flowers of the plant are so small and difficult to see. The bracts that surround the flowers in a cluster are called involucres. Poinsettia flowers are small and light green in color and grow in the center of the red cover. Bougainvillea flowers are white and about the size of a duckweed.
The brightly colored bracts serve to protect the flower and attract pollinating insects. Other common plants with colorful bracts and insignificant flowers include the dogwood, the pot, and the lollipop.
In flowers like daisies and sunflowers, the bracts are the green part that attaches the flower to the stem. Bracts of this type are called filariae. In grasses and grains, there are two types of bracts. These types of plants grow with long clusters of flowers, called buds, at the top. Each floret eventually contains one seed. The flowers are surrounded by two thin, scaly bracts, with an inner bract called the palea and an outer bract called the lemma. The entire floret is surrounded by green, leaf-shaped or pointed bracts called glumes.
Some bracts are adapted for very specific functions. The bracts of the passion flower are coated with a sticky, acidic substance that traps insects. The acid then breaks down and digests the insects to provide the flower with nutrients. In Lobelia telekii, a tall, conical, hairy-looking plant native to the cold alpine regions of Africa, the blue-green skin is made up of bracts that act as insulators.
