Distinct Flowers

• Monocots have distinctive morphological features that set them apart from the dicots. The flowers of monocot plants typically have petals, stamens and other floral parts in threes or multiples of three such as six or nine. Dicots have flower parts in multiples of four or five. The pollen grains from monocot flowers have a single furrow through the outer layers, while dicot pollen grains have three furrows. However, some monocots have features of dicots and some dicots have features of monocots, meaning there's a "fuzzy" border between these classes.
  
  

Leaves and Stems

• The leaves of monocot plants tend to be elongated, with leaf veins running parallel along the leaf length. Dicot leaves tend to be more rounded with a network of auxiliary veins between the main veins. The vascular tissue in plant stems occurs in long strands called vascular bundles. In monocot plants, a cross section of the stem shows vascular bundles randomly scattered in the stem but with more toward the perimeter. In dicot plants, the vascular bundles are arranged in a column and show as a ring in a cross section of the stem.
  
  

Cotyledon Count

• Cotyledons are the "seed leaves" within a seed that support and feed the embryo with the nutrients packed within the seed until the embryo produces its first leaves and begins photosynthesis. Seeds of monocot plants have a single cotyledon and often sprout a single leaf. Seeds of dicot plants have two cotyledons and often sprout two leaves. Monocot plants don't produce wood to support themselves. Instead, they evolved specialized leaves that serve as a support structure.
  
  

Monocot Examples

• Monocot plants are all around us. The grass on your lawn is an example of a monocot plant. Flowering monocots include more than 20,000 species of orchids as well as bulb perennials such as lilies, irises, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and tulips. Aloe vera, with its useful medicinal properties, is another monocot. Most cereal grains are monocots, including corn, barley, oats, rice and wheat. Other monocot food plants include date palms, bananas, onions, yams, pineapple and ginger. By contrast, dicots include most vegetables, fruits and legumes.