I have two ideas on this.
Firstly I thought of STALKS. - To TAIL or follow someone is to stalk them, and a flower stalk runs through to the HEAD of the flower. And if a gardener Dead-Heads (removes the heads of dead plants) then he leaves the stalks.
Secondly, I thought of TRAINS. - To train can mean to guide or command, which could be to lead or HEAD.
Also the train of anything can be the TAIL end, as in the train of a wedding dress that trails behind or the retinue.
A bit tenuous but what do you think