Monocots, short for monocotyledons, represent one of the two major groups into which the flowering plants, or angiosperms, are divided. The term "monocot" is derived from the Greek words "mono," meaning one, and "kotylēdon," meaning seed leaf, which reflects the key characteristic of having one cotyledon in the seed.
Historically, the classification of plants into monocots and dicots was based on the number of cotyledons. However, with the advent of molecular biology, the traditional dicot group was found to be paraphyletic, leading to the introduction of the term eudicots for the true dicots, excluding some early-branching dicots. Monocots, however, remain a monophyletic group, meaning they share a common ancestor not shared with other groups.
Here are some well-known monocots:
The monocot lineage diverged early in the evolutionary history of angiosperms. Some research suggests that monocots might have evolved from a group of dicots, but this remains an area of active study. The earliest monocot fossils date back to the Early Cretaceous period, around 130 million years ago.