LIGULE

[lig.ule] n [NL ligula, fr. L, small tongue, strap, fr. lingere to lick--more at lick] (ca. 1847): a scalelike projection esp. on a plant: as a: a thin appendage of a foliage leaf and esp. of the sheath of a blade of grass b: a ligulate corolla of a ray floret in a composite head