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Plant Family Collection: Monocots
The flowering plants are divided into two main subclasses: the monocots and the dicots. Monocots have one cotyledon (the first leaf produced on a seedling). They have leaves with parallel veins, and flower parts in threes or multiples of three—three or six petals and three or six stamens (the male parts of the flower), for example.
As their name suggests, dicotyledons have two cotyledons, as well as net-veined leaves, and flower parts in fours or fives or multiples of four or five. Dicots are much more diverse than monocots, and it is generally understood that the monocots are derived from an aquatic dicot such as the water-lily. Botanists believe that monocots evolved from dicots by reduction—that is to say, by losing one of the two seed leaves found in every dicot.
In the Plant Family Collection, the monocots are represented in the Monocot Border, overflowing with grasses, lilies, cannas, a banana tree, and other spectacular specimens.
Map of the Garden
The Plant Family Collection is indicated by the orange box. Click on the map to visit other locations in the Garden, or click here to view a larger map.
