Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
a highly conspicuous bract or bract pair or ring of bracts at the base of an inflorescence;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Involucre \In"vo*lu`cre\ (?; 277), n. [L. involucrum a covering,
wrapper, fr. involvere to wrap up, envelop: cf. F. involucre.
See Involve.] (Bot.)
(a) A whorl or set of bracts around a flower, umbel, or head.
(b) A continuous marginal covering of sporangia, in certain
ferns, as in the common brake, or the cup-shaped
processes of the filmy ferns.
(c) The peridium or volva of certain fungi. Called also
involucrum.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
involucre
n 1: a highly conspicuous bract or bract pair or ring of bracts
at the base of an inflorescence