DEFINITION OF EUDYCOTS, MAGNOLIIDS, MONOCOTS AND
PALEOHERBS
SUMMARIZED FROM “PINEYWOODS PLANTS DIGITAL GALLERY”
http://src.sfasu.edu/~jvk/PineywoodsPlants/Key_to_plantgroups.html
TREE OF LIFE: MAGNOLIIDS,
http://tolweb.org/magnoliids
http://tolweb.org/Core_Eudicots/20714
http://tolweb.org/Angiosperms/20646
Basal Angiosperms
The basal angiosperms represent a grade that includes the following groups: Amborellaceae,
Nymphaeaceae, Austrobaileyales, Ceratophyllaceae, Chloranthaceae, magnoliids, and monocots
(although not all investigators choose to consider monocots basal angiosperms).
Eudicotyledons:
Eudicotyledons or "Eudicots" are vascular plants, which produce seeds that develop from flowers
and are enclosed in fruits. They have at least three of the following: Flower parts are in 2's, 4's or
5's or multiples of 4 or 5; Leaves have netted venation; Stem vascular bundles are arranged in a
ring around the pith; Seeds possess 2 seed leaves (cotyledons). Secondary growth from a vascular
cambium is present in many species. Pollen grains have 3 or more openings. The eudicots are the
largest flowering plant group. The Eudicotyledons or "eudicots" with roughly 160,000 species,
are the largest group of flowering plants and include the majority of the traditional "dicot"
angiosperm class. Another name for this group is Tricolpates.
Core eudicots: flowers organized in a predictable manner with a stable number of parts
(e.g., flowers with parts in fives or multiples of five, a clear differentiation of sepals and
petals, twice the number of stamens as petals, and a gynoecium of three to five typically
fused (at least partially) carpels; Judd et al. 2002), production of ellagic and gallic acids,
Magnoliids
Magnoliids are vascular plants, which produce seeds that develop from flowers and are enclosed
in fruits. They have at least three of the following: Flower are large with numerous parts or in 3's
or multiples of 3, spirally arranged tepals (perianth parts that are not differentiated into petals and
sepals), stamens, and carpels, some have laminar stamens; Leaves are long, broad and have netted
venation; Seeds possess 2 seed leaves (cotyledons); Secondary growth is present in many species;
Pollen grains have one opening. Examples include magnolias, sassafras, pawpaws, redbay, and
lizard tail (Saururaceae).
An economically important group that includes spices (black pepper, cinnamon, camphor and bay
leaves), tropical and temperate fruits (pawpaws, avocados, sour sop, and others), and ornamentals
(magnolias, tulip poplar).
Monocotyledons
Monocotyledons, with about 65,000 species worldwide, are the second largest group of flowering
plants. They generally have flower parts that are in 3's or multiples of 3, leaves that are parallelveined and vascular bundles scattered throughout the cross section of the stem. Their seeds have
only one seed leaf (cotyledon). Secondary growth (stem thickening) from a vascular cambium
does not occur, and pollen grains have one opening. Their growth is almost exclusively
sympodial. Common local examples include grasses, sedges, rushes, greenbriers and spiderworts.
"Lilly-like" wildflowers are also usually monocots.
Paleoherbs
The water lilies (Nymphaeiids) are one of the earliest-diverging evolutionary branches of
flowering plants and are only distantly related to the remainder of the angiosperms. Mainly
aquatic, many Nymphaeiids (Nuphar, Nymphaea) produce showy, often large flowers with
numerous flower parts and large roughly circular floating leaves. Others (fanworts) are limp,
submersed plants with small, floating flowers and highly divided leaves. Nymphaeids were
formerly included in the obsolete paraphyletic "dicotyledon" class owing to their two seed leaves.
Included here are the Nymphaeales, Aristolochiales, Piperales, Rafflesiales and others.