Monocotyledon vs. Dicotyledon — What's the Difference?

Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae sensu Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of the major groups into which the flowering plants have traditionally been divided, the rest of the flowering plants having two cotyledons and therefore classified as dicotyledons, or dicots.

The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or more rarely dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants or angiosperms were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group, namely that the seed has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons.

Any of various flowering plants, such as grasses, lilies, and palms, having a single cotyledon in the seed, and usually a combination of other characteristics, typically leaves with parallel veins, a lack of secondary growth, and flower parts in multiples of three.

Any of various flowering plants that are not monocotyledons, having two cotyledons in the seed and usually flower parts in multiples of four or five, leaves with reticulate venation, pollen with three pores, and the capacity for secondary growth. The dicotyledons, which include the eudicotyledons and the magnoliids, are no longer considered to form a single valid taxonomic group.

(botany) Any plant whose seedlings typically have one cotyledon (seed leaf) (in contrast to the two cotyledons typical of dicots), thereby belonging to the taxonomic monocots, formerly variously known as Monocotyledones, Monocotyledonae, or Liliopsida, a class in the angiosperms (Angiospermae), the flowering plants.

(botany) A plant whose seedling has two cotyledons.

A plant with only one cotyledon, or seed lobe; a member of the Monocotyledonae.

Any plant in what used to be the Dicotyledones.

A monocotyledonous flowering plant; the stem grows by deposits on its inside

A plant whose seeds divide into two seed lobes, or cotyledons, in germinating.

Flowering plant with two cotyledons; the stem grows by deposit on its outside