Comparing Monocot and Dicot
Pants
Objective:
1. To explain what a monocot and dicot plant is
1. To describe the differences between monocots
and dicots in terms of their structures
2. To explain how one plant type evolved from the
other
• Angiosperms can be divided into two
classes:
• Monocotyledons (monocots) and
Dicotyledons (dicots)
• Cotyledon: A seed leaf that stores
carbohydrates (food) for the seedling
(baby plant).
• Is often the first photosynthetic organ of a
young seedling.
Go Discover…
• Find out what a monocot plant and a dicot plant is.
• Create a table to compare the structures of these
two classes of plant.
• In your table you should compare seeds, stem,
flower, leaf and root.
• Page 397 in your text book will help you.
• There are other pages that may be helpful as well.
You will need to look these up.
• The micro-slide-viewer contains a slides with some
great images of monocot and dicot structures.
Seeds
Dicots are seeds that have two parts
The two large parts of the seeds are called cotyledons.
They supply the food for the young plant when it's
growing.
Monocots are seeds that only have one cotyledon
Leaves
Dicot leaves are usually net-veined
Notice how the larger veins are thicker and
straighter, but as veins get smaller and smaller,
they tend to snake around.
Monocots typically possess parallel-veined
leaves
Flower
Monocots have their flower parts in
threes or multiples of three; example
the tulip and lily (Lilium ).
Dicots have their flower parts in fours (or
multiples) or fives (or multiples). Examples of
some common dicot flowers include the
geranium and snapdragon.
Stem
Monocot stems have scattered vascular bundles.
Monocot stems have most of
their vascular bundles near
the outside edge of the
stem.
Dicot stems have their vascular bundles in
a ring arrangement.
Dicot stems have bundles in a ring
surrounding parenchyma cells in a pith
region.
Root
Dicot roots have their xylem in the
center of the root and phloem
outside the xylem.
The roots of dicots are usually
short and stringy.
Monocot roots have their
vascular bundles arranged in a
ring.
The root is often a single long tap
root with smaller roots growing
from it.
Plenary
1. What is a cotyledon?
2. How many cotyledons do monocots have?
How many do dicots have?
3. What is different about the arrangement of
the vascular bundles in monocot and dicot
stems?
4. What is different about the arrangement of
the veins in monocot and dicot leaves?
5. How is the seed different in a monocot and
dicot plant?