Monocotyledon

Monocotyledons are a class of flowering plants (angiosperms), whose embryo (seed) store only one cotyledon. The APG II system recognises a clade called "monocots" but does not assign it to a taxonomic rank.

Monocotyledons
Daylily flower, with three flower parts in each whorl
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Monocotyledons

You can recognize a monocot by its leaves: they have long parallel veins running down the leaf. In contrast, dicot plant leaves have a complex netted vein pattern on their leaves.

Monocots usually have a fibrous root system.

Clade diagram

Angiosperms	monocots Piperales, Acorales, Alismatales, Asparagales, Dioscoreales, Liliales, Pandanales commelinids eudicots rest of clades... core eudicots rest of clades... rosids eurosids I eurosids II asterids euasterids I euasterids II unassigned taxa...

Monocotyledon Media

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  Allium crenulatum (Asparagales), an onion, with typical monocot perianth and parallel leaf venation

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  Onion slice: the cross-sectional view shows the veins that run in parallel along the length of the bulb and stem

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  Comparison of a monocot (grass: Poales) sprouting (left) with a dicot (right)

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  Yucca brevifolia (Joshua Tree: Asparagales)

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  Roystonea regia palm (Arecales) stems showing anomalous secondary growth in monocots, with characteristic fibrous roots

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  Illustrations of cotyledons by John Ray 1682, after Malpighi

Other websites

• APG II
• Petrosaviales Archived 2008-02-12 at the Wayback Machine