While hiking along a trail, you discover a beautiful plant that you\'ve never se

ID: 100131 • Letter: W

Question

While hiking along a trail, you discover a beautiful plant that you've never seen before. It has tiny immature buds that eventually will become flowers but they are so underdeveloped you cannot see them at this point. What would be the EASIEST way to determine if this is a monocot or a eudicot?

Cut a portion of the stem to propagate when you get home and wait for the flower to open.

Pull up the plant and cut a cross section of the root. If the vascular tissue forms a ring, it is a monocot. If it forms a star, it is a eudicot.

Cut a piece of the stem. If the vascular tissue forms a ring, it is a monocot. If it is scattered, it is a eudicot.

Look at the veins in the leaves. If they are parallel, it is a monocot. If they are branched, it is a eudicot.

Explanation / Answer

Monocots and eudicots (true dicots, include most plants that were previously called as dicots) are the two sub types of angiosperms.

Monocots – rice, oats, wheat

Eudicots – fruits and vegetables

MONOCOTS

EUDICOTS

Seed

Seeds germinate and form one seed leaf or cotyledon

Seeds germinate and form two seed leaves

Leaves

Parallel veins

Net veins

Stem

Vascular bundles scattered

Vascular bundles in distinct ring

Flower

Parts in 3 or multiples of 3

Parts in 4 or 5 or multiples of 5

Root

Fibrous root

Taproot

In this case, the easiest way is to have a look at the leaf to see whether it has parallel or net veins.