cotyledon
Sign in to savethumb|Cotyledon from a Judas-tree (Cercis siliquastrum, a dicot) seedling thumb|Comparison of a monocot and dicot sprouting. The visible part of the monocot plant (left) is actually the first true leaf produced from the meristem; the cotyledon itself remains within the seed.
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A cotyledon is a specialized leaf-like structure found inside seeds that serves as a food storage organ for developing seedlings. The number of cotyledons a plant has—either one (monocots) or two (dicots)—is a fundamental way botanists classify flowering plants, and these structures help nourish the young plant until it can produce its own leaves and grow independently.
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6 sectionsContents
- Epigeal versus hypogeal development
- History
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|Cotyledon from a Judas-tree (Cercis siliquastrum, a dicot) seedling thumb|Comparison of a monocot and dicot sprouting. The visible part of the monocot plant (left) is actually the first true leaf produced from the meristem; the cotyledon itself remains within the seed.
A cotyledon ( ) is a "seed leaf" – a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant – and is formally defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." Botanists use the number of cotyledons present as one characteristic to classify the flowering plants (angiosperms): species with one cotyledon are called monocotyledonous ("monocots"); plants with two embryonic leaves are termed dicotyledonous ("dicots"). Many orchids with minute seeds have no identifiable cotyledon, and are regarded as acotyledons. The Dodders (Cuscuta spp.) also lack cotyledons, as does the African tree Mammea africana (Calophyllaceae). A very small number of Dicots have more than two cotyledons, with perhaps Psittacanthus schiedeanus being the most extreme, having up to twelve.