plants can be put in one of two groups monocots short for monocotyledons and dicots short for dicotyledons but what's the difference between these groups and how can you tell which is which well the name provides the first hint since monocotyledons have one cotyledon and dicotyledons have two cotyledons a cotyledon is an embryonic leaf and it is the first leaf to appear once a seed has germinated these embryonic leaves help the new plant access to nutrients stored in the seed giving it a source of nutrients until the true leaves are formed and start to photosynthesize the true leaves of monocots and dicots are also different while monocots have leaves with parallel veins and long slender blades dicots have broader leaves with branched veins the stems leading up to these different leaves are also different monocots have their vascular bundles scattered haphazardly although most are found near the edge of the stem dicots however have their vascular bundles arranged in a ring there is also a difference between the flowers of the plants in each group monocot flowers will usually form with petals and multiples of three while dicot flowers will have petals in multiples of four or five underground we see yet another important difference between monocots and dicots while monocots have fibrous roots which splay out in every which direction dicots have a tap root system which means they have one main root from which smaller roots branch off while fibrous roots stick to the upper layer of soil cap roots can generally reach deeper down into the ground so in summary monocots and dicots differ structurally in terms of their leaves stems flowers and roots but there is one last thing you should note most monocots are herbaceous meaning that they have no persistent woody stem instead they tend to have a flexible green stem grow quickly and produce lots of seeds in a short period of time there are many more varieties of dicots compared to monocots because the possibility of a woody support system in their roots and stems allows them to grow to all shapes and sizes from trees to daisies