There seems to be two meanings for bracteoles in the botanical texts I checked listing both and others just listing. There seems to be agreement that bracteoles are "small bracts" but also they are "secondary bracts". Bracteoles that I deal with are a secondary series of bracts and are at least relatively smaller. I can't think of a case where there are bracteoles but no bracts. In a umbellate flower arrange, the bracts subtend the point where the pedicels join the stem (the valve covers mentioned in an earlier e-mail) and the bracteoles are arise from the base of the pedicel of the individual flowers such as what Robert is referring to in Hippeastrum. I don't know about their presents in Allium either, but thin tissued bracteoles tend to dry up fast as soon as the umbel expands- Could they be "dissappearing" or shed? The easiest place to see all manner of bracteoles and bracts is with the composite family Asteraceae, though it probably won't help with finding the answer to the Allium question. Alani Davis On 10/1/07, rdjenkins <rdjenkins@bellsouth.net> wrote: > > Don't know about their occurance in Allium, etc, nor do I have a > definition. > > But will ask this: aren't these the narrow "wispy" tissues I frequently > see in hybrid Hippeastrums amongst the buds? Sometimes they're short, > sometimes nearly as long as the valves. > > Robert. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >