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MONOCOTS

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popular name for the Liliopsida, one of two classes of flowering plants in the phylum Magnoliophyta (see ANGIOSPERM). Monocots, or more properly monocotyledons, are mostly herbaceous and include such familiar plants as iris, lily, orchid, grass, and palm. Several floral and vegetative features distinguish them from DICOTS, (q.v.), the other angiosperm class. These features include flower parts in threes; one cotyledon (seed leaf); leaf veins that are usually parallel; vascular tissue in scattered bundles in the stem; and no true secondary growth.

Monocots are thought to have evolved from some early aquatic group of dicots through reduction of various flower and vegetative parts. Among living groups the order Alismatales (see WATER PLANTAIN,) contains the most primitive monocots. About 50,000 species of monocots are known, about one-third the number of dicot species.        M.R.C., MARSHALL R. CROSBY, Ph.D. & P.H.R., PETER H. RAVEN, Ph.D.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 451. General botany.

An article from Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. © 2006 World Almanac Education Group. A WRC Media Company. All rights reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by written agreement, uses of the work inconsistent with U.S. and applicable foreign copyright and related laws are prohibited.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA:

MONOCOTS,

MONOCOTS,. popular name for the Liliopsida, one of two classes of flowering plants in the phylum Magnoliophyta (see ANGIOSPERM). Monocots, or more properly monocotyledons, are mostly herbaceous and include such familiar plants as iris, lily, orchid, grass, and palm. Monocots . . .

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ENCYCLOPEDIA: TREE,

ENCYCLOPEDIA: FLOWER,

ENCYCLOPEDIA: GRASSES,

ENCYCLOPEDIA: ANGIOSPERM