Monocots
The two largest groups of flowering plants (angiosperms) are the monocots and the eudicots.
Most of the families we have been studying are members of the gymnosperms or eudicots. The Poaceae is the only monocot family you have studied so far.
There are numerous differences between the eudicots and monocots. They are summarized in the table below.
|
|
Eudicots |
Monocots |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of cotyledons in embryo |
Two |
One |
|
Number of petals, sepals, and usually stamens |
In multiples of 4 or 5 |
In multiples of 3 |
|
Major leaf veins |
Branched or reticulate (netted) |
Parallel |
|
Vascular tissue in stem |
A ring of vascular bundles, sometimes forming a cambium and wood |
Scattered vascular bundles, never forming true wood |
The characteristic for which the two groups are named (the number of cotyledons in the embryo) is rarely used in field identification of species. However, the combination of leaf venation and flower part number are good indicators of whether a plant is a monocot or eudicot.
Some monocots (like palm trees and Joshual trees) may grow to be large and tree-like in stature, but they do not acheive this by producing wood from a vascular cambium.
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