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Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons – What’s the Difference?
Two words you may have heard before in reference to plants are dicots (dicotyledons) and monocots (monocotyledons). In today’s TrueTreeTalk post, we provide a summary table as a quick reference and give you a little information about cotyledons so you can understand the differences.
Summary Table
Here’s a summary table showing the differences between dicots and monocots. There can be variation depending on the plant, but these are the general characteristics.
| Dicots | Monocots | |
| Angiosperms | Yes | Yes |
| Flowering | Yes | Yes |
| Number of Cotyledons | Two | One |
| Leaf Veins | Branching | Parallel |
| Number of Flower Petals | 4 or 5 or multiples of 4 or 5 | 3 or multiples of 3 |
| Vascular Bundles in Stems | Concentric rings | Random arrangement |
| Vascular Bundles in Roots | Located centrally | Ring |
| Roots | Taproot | Fibrous |
| Internodes | Not clearly visible | Clearly visible |
| Examples | Sunflower, tomato, rose, oaks | Bamboo, corn, palms, banana |
What’s a Cotyledon?
The names dicotyledon and monocotyledon come from the number of cotyledons that these plants produce. Dicots produce two cotyledons and monocots produce one. A cotyledon is the first leaf that emerges from the seed once the seed starts to germinate. If there is one leaf, it is a monocot. If there are two leaves, it is a dicot.
If you found this summary information about dicots and monocots helpful, check out the other posts on our TrueTreeTalk blog. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with these and other posts.
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