involucral scale
Technical botanical term for a bract or scale on the involucre, the whorl of bracts surrounding a flower cluster.
In Asteraceae plants, the shape of the involucral scales provides clues for classification.
Compound of 総 (そう, 'whole, overall'), 苞 (ほう, 'bract, husk'), and 片 (へん, 'piece, fragment'). The term is a modern botanical coinage.