Differences Between Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons

Differences Between Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons

All plants are classified as producing seeds or not producing seeds. Those that produce seeds are divided into flowering (angiosperms) and non-flowering (gymnosperms). Flowering plants are further divided into monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous (monocot and dicot) plants.

Flowering plants such as the acacia tree.

Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants such as pine trees or "black spruce" shown above.

In angiosperms, the cotyledon is part of the seed of the plant. The number of cotyledons (mono- or di-) is used to classify flowering plants. Monocotyledonous plants have one cotyledon, dicotyledonous plants have two. Plants belonging to each group have a number of features in common, such as the leaf and root structure, the strength of the stem, the flower structure and flower parts. Some differences between monocots and dicots are summarised in the figure below.

A comparison between monocots and dicots.

In addition to the differences listed above, monocots and dicots have important differences in their roots. Monocots have a network of fibrous roots and dicots have tap roots.

In the previous tutorial, you learnt about the key plant tissues involved in support and transport functions, namely the xylem, phloem, collenchyma and sclerenchyma. Recall that these tissues are involved in both transport and supporting roles in plants. In different parts of the plant, tissues are arranged differently. In the next set of lessons, we will study the overall structure (or anatomy) of dicotyledonous plants.