monocotyledon
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monocotyledon, byname monocot, one of the two great groups of flowering plants, or angiosperms, the other being the eudicotyledons (eudicots). There are approximately 60,000 species of monocots, including the most economically important of all plant families, Poaceae (true grasses), and the largest of all plant families, Orchidaceae (orchids). Other prominent monocot families include Liliaceae (lilies), Arecaceae (palms), and Iridaceae (irises). Most of them are distinguished by the presence of only one seed leaf, or cotyledon, in the embryo contained in the seed. Eudicotyledons, in contrast, ordinarily have two cotyledons. Monocots form a monophyletic group, meaning that they share a common ...(100 of 598 words)