Monocotyledons

Monocotyledon Temporal range: Early Cretaceous – Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Wheat An economically important monocot
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Type genus
Lilium L.
Orders
alismatid monocots Acorales Alismatales lilioid monocots Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Petrosaviales commelinid monocots Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales
Synonyms
Alternifoliae Bessey Endogenae DC. Lilianae Takht. Liliatae Cronquist, Takht. & W.Zimm. Liliidae Takht. Liliopsida Batsch Monocotyleae Eichler Monocotyledoneae E.Morren ex Mez Mononocotyledones

An economically important monocot

Monocotyledons (/ˌmɒnəˌkɒtəˈliːdən, -ˌkɒtˈliː-/), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae sensu Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants (angiosperms) whose seeds typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of the major groups into which the flowering plants have traditionally been divided, the rest of the flowering plants having two cotyledons and therefore classified as dicotyledons, or dicots. However, molecular phylogenetic research has shown that while the monocots form a monophyletic group or clade (comprising all the descendants of a common ancestor), the dicots do not. Monocots have almost always been recognized as a group, but with various taxonomic ranks and under several different names. The APG III system of 2009 recognises a clade called "monocots" but does not assign it to a taxonomic rank.