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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?
Amaryllis
Snowflakes
Snowdrops
Narcissus
Narcissus
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
skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus
skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus
skunk cabbage
golden club
Orontium aquaticum
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Arisaema triphyllum
Anthurium
anthurium
anthurium
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
Puya sp.
Puya sp.
Puya sp.
Puya sp.
Bromeliad
Bromeliad
Bromeliad
plants > monocots > Colchicaceae
Colchicum Family (Colchicaceae)
Flowering bulbs that resemble lilies or crocuses. (Crocuses are in the iris family.)
bellwort
bellwort
Colchicum
Colchicum
Colchicum
Colchicum
plants > monocots > Cyperaceae
Sedge Family (Cyperaceae)
Grasslike plants with triangular stems and leaves arranged in a spiral.
Common Cotton Sedge
Common Cotton Sedge
Eriophorum angustifolium
Common Cotton Sedge
Eriophorum angustifolium
plants > monocots > Heliconiaceae
Heliconia Family (Heliconiaceae)
Tropical plants with banana-like leaves and flattened flower-clusters, often red or orange. Compare Gingers, Strelitzia.
Heliconia
Heliconia
Heliconia
Heliconia
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
Gladiolus
Crocosmia
Crocus
Crocus
Crocus
Crocus
Crocus
(no gallery)
Blue-eyed grass
Iris
Iris
iris
white iris
(no album)
plants > monocots > Liliaceae
Lily Family (Liliaceae)
plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae
Trillium Family (Melanthiaceae)
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.
Red Trillium, Trillium erectum
plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium,
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium,
Trillium erectum
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Painted Trillium, T. undulatum
plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Trillium undulatum
Painted Trillium
T. undulatum
Painted Trillium,
T. undulatum
Painted Trillium,
T. undulatum
Painted Trillium
Trillium undulatum
Painted Trillium
Trillium undulatum
Painted Trillium,
T. undulatum
Other Trillium Species
plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Other Trillium species
Large-Flowered Trillium
Toadshade,
Trillium sp.
Indian Poke, Veratrum viride
plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Veratrum viride
False-Hellebore, a.k.a Indian Poke
Veratrum viride
False-Hellebore
plants > monocots > Orchidaceae
Orchid family (Orchidaceae)
plants > monocots > Typhaceae
Cat-Tail Family (Typhaceae)
Cat-tail
Cat-tail
Cat-tail
Typha sp.
plants > monocots > Zingiberaceae
Ginger family (Zingiberaceae)
Plants with banana-like leaves and columnar or hanging flower-clusters. Compare heliconias, bananas.
Hedychium coccineum
Crêpe Ginger
Cheilocostus speciosus
Cheilocostus speciosus
Zingiber sp.
Zingiber
Alpinia
Alpinia
Alpinia
Alpinia purpurata
Alpinia
Alpinia
Alpinia zerumbet
Alpinia
Alpinia
plants > monocots > Other
Other / Unknown Families of monocots
Monocots I haven't identified, or for which I don't have enough photos to justify a listing by family
C. palmata? - male flower
Carludovica palmata? fruit
Musa rosea
Musa sp.?
Royal Palm?
Maianthemum canadense
Day-Lily
Hemerocallis sp.
Common Reed
Phragmites australis
False Solomon's Seal
Maianthemum racemosum
Strelitzia
Pickerelweed
Pontederia cordata
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