Monocots typically have how many cotyledons?

• A. One
• B. None
• C. Two
• D. Three

Answer: (A)

In flowering plants, the number of cotyledons (seed leaves) is a classic way to tell major plant groups apart. A cotyledon is the first leaf or leaves that appear from the seed and often provide stored nutrients to the embryo during germination.

Monocots have a single cotyledon. In grasses and many other monocots, that one seed leaf is called the scutellum, and the seedling uses other structures like the coleoptile for the shoot and coleorhiza for the root during germination. This single cotyledon is a defining trait of monocots, which include plants such as corn, wheat, and rice.

Two cotyledons are characteristic of dicots (eudicots), not monocots, so that option describes a different group. The idea of three cotyledons doesn’t align with how flowering plant groups are classed, and zero cotyledons isn’t a typical seed structure for angiosperms.

Therefore, monocots typically have one cotyledon.