stipula

STIPULA, STIPULE, n. [L., a straw or stubble.] In botany, a scale at the base of nascent petioles or peduncles. Stipules are in pairs or solitary; they are lateral, extrafoliaceous, intrafoliaceous, &c. A leafy appendage to the proper leaves or to their footstalks; commonly situated at the base of the latter, in pairs.