Glume (glūm), n. [L. gluma hull, husk, fr. glubere to bark or peel: cf. F. glume or gloume.] (Bot.) The bracteal covering of the flowers or seeds of grain and grasses; esp., an outer husk or bract of a spikelet. Gray.

• A glume is a basal bract in the flowers of grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae). Specifically, it is a basal, membranous, outer sterile husk or bract in grass flowers that do not stand directly at the flower base. In grasses, two glumes enclose a spikelet. In sedges, a glume subtends each flower (or several in a small cluster).