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Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae)
Arum Family (Araceae)
Bromeliad Family (Bromeliaceae)
Colchicum Family (Colchiceae)
Sedge Family (Cyperaceae)
Heliconia Family (Heliconiaceae)
Iris Family (Iridaceae)
Lily Family (Liliaceae)
Trillium Family (Melanthiaceae)
Orchid Family (Orchidaceae)
Cat-Tail Family (Typhaceae)
Ginger Family (Zingiberaceae)
Other/Unidentified

David Albeck's Photos of Monocots

The name "monocotyledon" refers to the shape of their seeds - look very closely at a kernel of corn (maize): there's an embryonic plant stem at the base, and the rest of the seed is a single nutrient-stuffed leaf (the plant equivalent of a yolk sac). In contrast, a dicot has two such leaves - that's why you can split a chickpea.

Think of monocots and you should probably think of grasses. It's no big surprise that sedges and rushes are monocots too, if you even realize they aren't true grasses. But lilies and orchids are also monocots, and so are palm trees and banana trees.

Monocots have flowers with petals in multiples of three (though highly modified in most orchids) and major leaf veins arranged in parallel ribs (never branching).

plants > monocots > Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae)

A family of lily-like flowers, typically with multiple flowers around a round stem.

Allium?

Zion

Amaryllis

Snowflakes

Shelburne Falls

Snowdrops

Narcissus

Shelburne Falls

Narcissus

Mt Feake

plants > monocots > Araceae

Arum Family (Araceae)

Easily recognized by their phallic central spadix, usually wrapped in a single large bract. Some members are erroneously called "lilies."

Calla palustris

Blue Hills

skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus

Signs of Spring

skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus

spring flowers

skunk cabbage

Ponkapoag

golden club
Orontium aquaticum

Garden in the Woods

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Blue Hills

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Arisaema triphyllum

Mt Tripyramid

Anthurium

Costa Rica pt. 4

anthurium

Williams Park

anthurium

Williams Park

plants > monocots > Bromeliaceae

Bromelia Family (Bromeliaceae)

Includes pineapple and agave. Plants with leaves in a rosette, usually succulent, often with spiky leaves. Sometimes epiphytic. Flowers from a tall seasonal stem.

Bromeliad

Pisaq

Puya sp.

Machu Picchu

Puya sp.

Machu Picchu

Puya sp.

Machu Picchu

Puya sp.

Warmiwanuska

Bromeliad

Warmiwanuska

Bromeliad

Warmiwanuska

Bromeliad

Providence

plants > monocots > Colchicaceae

Colchicum Family (Colchicaceae)

Flowering bulbs that resemble lilies or crocuses. (Crocuses are in the iris family.)

bellwort

Conway

bellwort

Mt Madison

Colchicum

Vermont

Colchicum

Saqsayhuaman

Colchicum

Parc de la Vanoise

Colchicum

Saqsayhuaman

plants > monocots > Cyperaceae

Sedge Family (Cyperaceae)

Grasslike plants with triangular stems and leaves arranged in a spiral.

Common Cotton Sedge

Local Pond

Common Cotton Sedge
Eriophorum angustifolium

Fall Foliage

Common Cotton Sedge
Eriophorum angustifolium

Skagavegur

plants > monocots > Heliconiaceae

Heliconia Family (Heliconiaceae)

Tropical plants with banana-like leaves and flattened flower-clusters, often red or orange. Compare Gingers, Strelitzia.

Heliconia

Costa Rica pt. 4

Heliconia

Costa Rica pt. 1

Heliconia

Costa Rica pt. 1

Heliconia

Botanic Garden

plants > monocots > Iridaceae

Iris Family (Iridaceae)

Perennial monocots with grass-like leaves and showy flowers. This family includes crocus and gladiolus (and of course iris).

Gladiolus

Cârţa

Gladiolus

Cârţa

Crocosmia

Breton Life

Crocus

crocuses

Crocus

crocuses

Crocus

crocuses

Crocus

crocuses

Crocus

(no gallery)

Blue-eyed grass

Local Park

Iris

Cannon Mtn

Iris

Franklin Park Zoo

iris

Chandler Pond

white iris

(no album)

plants > monocots > Liliaceae

Lily Family (Liliaceae)

Please click through to my Liliaceae page

plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae

Trillium Family (Melanthiaceae)

Melanthiaceae Species

Red Trillium (Trillium erectum)
Painted Trillium (Trillum undulatum)
Other Trillium Species
Indian Poke (Veratrum viride)

Similar to lilies but considered a separate family. In New England we have the white-and-pink Painted Trillium, the Red (a.k.a. Purple) Trillium (a.k.a. Wake-Robin), the Nodding Trillium which hides its white blooms under its leaves, and the well-named Large-Flowered Trillium whose blooms are usually white but are sometimes a pinkish-purple. Some members of the genus go by the common name "toadshade"; none of those are native to New England but a few garden escapes exist.