Home     Photos     Hiking     Writings     Contact     Copyright

             Favorites     by Subject     Chronological   
Monocot Families:

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
Amaryllis
Snowflakes
Shelburne Falls
Snowdrops
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

Please click through to my Liliaceae page

plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae

Trillium Family (Melanthiaceae)

Melanthiaceae Species
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
Pitchoff Mtn
Red Trillium, Trillium erectum
Bloodroot
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Mt Prospect
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
The Horn
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
The Horn
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
The Horn
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Presidential Range
Red Trillium, Trillium erectum
Mt Madison
Red Trillium
Trillium erectum
Spaulding Mtn

Painted Trillium, T. undulatum

plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Trillium undulatum
Painted Trillium
T. undulatum
Pitchoff Mtn
Painted Trillium, T. undulatum
Kearsarge South
Painted Trillium, T. undulatum
Kearsarge South
Painted Trillium
Trillium undulatum
The Horn
Painted Trillium
Trillium undulatum
Mt Madison
Painted Trillium, T. undulatum
Presidential Range

Other Trillium Species

plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Other Trillium species
  Large-Flowered Trillium
Pitchoff Mtn
Toadshade, Trillium sp.
Toadshade

Indian Poke, Veratrum viride

plants > monocots > Melanthiaceae > Veratrum viride
False-Hellebore, a.k.a Indian Poke
Veratrum viride
Moat Mountain
False-Hellebore
Mt Dickerman


plants > monocots > Orchidaceae


Orchid family (Orchidaceae)

Please click through to my Orchids page

Please click through to my Orchids page

or go direct to wild Lady's Slippers



plants > monocots > Typhaceae


Cat-Tail Family (Typhaceae)

Cat-tail
Local Pond
Cat-tail
Local Pond
Cat-tail
Typha sp.
Local Pond


plants > monocots > Zingiberaceae


Ginger family (Zingiberaceae)

Plants with banana-like leaves and columnar or hanging flower-clusters. Compare heliconias, bananas.

Hedychium coccineum
Costa Rica pt. 2
Crêpe Ginger
Cheilocostus speciosus
Costa Rica pt. 1
Cheilocostus speciosus
Botanic Garden
Zingiber sp.
Costa Rica pt. 1
Zingiber
Botanic Garden
Alpinia
hawaiian garden
Alpinia
Botanic Garden
Alpinia
hawaiian garden
Alpinia purpurata
Botanic Garden
Alpinia
hawaiian garden
Alpinia
Fern Grotto
Alpinia zerumbet
Botanic Garden
Alpinia
Fern Grotto
Alpinia
Fern Grotto

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
Costa Rica pt. 2
Carludovica palmata?
fruit
Costa Rica pt. 2
  Musa rosea
Costa Rica pt. 1
Musa sp.?
Costa Rica pt. 1
  Royal Palm?
Puerto Rico
Maianthemum canadense
Local Pond
Day-Lily
Hemerocallis sp.
Backyard Flowers
Common Reed
Phragmites australis
Fall Foliage
False Solomon's Seal
Maianthemum racemosum
Old Speck
Strelitzia
hawaiian garden
Pickerelweed
Pontederia cordata
Chandler's Pond


top of page     Back to Plant photos