What are dicotyledons?
Q: What are dicotyledons?
A: Dicotyledons, or dicots, are one of the two groups of flowering plants or angiosperms. They are characterized by having seeds with two embryonic leaves or cotyledons.
Q: How many species are there in the dicot group?
A: There are around 200,000 species in the dicot group.
Q: What is the other group of flowering plants besides dicots?
A: The other group of flowering plants are called monocotyledons or monocots. They have seeds with one cotyledon.
Q: Are dicotyledons a monophyletic group?
A: No, dicotyledons are not a monophyletic group. They are a number of lineages, such as the magnoliids. The traditional dicots are a paraphyletic group.
Q: What is the largest clade of dicotyledons called?
A: The largest clade of dicotyledons are known as the eudicots. They are definitely monophyletic.
Q: How are eudicots distinguished from other flowering plants?
A: Eudicots are distinguished from all other flowering plants by the structure of their pollen. Other dicotyledons and monocotyledons have an older type of pollen, whereas eudicots have derived pollen.
Q: What did molecular phylogeny show about the relationship between dicotyledons and monocotyledons?
A: Molecular phylogeny showed that basal angiosperms diverged earlier than the monocots did. This supports the idea that dicotyledons and monocotyledons are not closely related, despite both being groups of flowering plants.
