Plants: Monocots Versus Dicots

Larry Law

Traditionally, plants that flower are divided into two major classes: monocots and dicots. Monocots include grasses, cattails, irises, lilies, orchids, and palmtrees. The dicots include the vast majority of seed plants: herbs, vines, shrubs, and most trees. It is interesting in our work with glycobiology to know that monocots (grasses) typically have one primary sugar – glucose. Dicots (herbs) can have varying amounts of other sugars (mannose, fucose, galactose) which are important to human bodies but uncommon in our modern diet. ​

Being able to identify these herbs and bitters was a skill from bygone eras, but it still has application for human immune systems today. Below are brief descriptions and pictures of the two categories of flowering plants, and why it's important to make these distinctions.

Monocots
When a seedling germinates and breaks through the soil, the cotyledons are the first things to appear. They represent a significant feature of the embryo in the seed.  Plants with only one cotyledon are called monocotyledon plants. Other characteristics of monocotyledon plants are structures appearing in multiples of threes. They can have three, six or nine petals. They also have adventitious roots meaning that these roots can grow from almost any part of the plant that comes into contact with the soil, such as the stem. In addition, close examination of the leaves of a monocotyledon plant will reveal that the veins are always parallel.​

Dicots
Dicots have two cotyledons. The veins of the leaves are in a network (not parallel). The flowers come in multiples of four or five petals. The seeds of dicots come in many different shapes and sizes. When germination occurs, two embryonic leaves sprout.

Pictures of Monocots and Dicots

A picture of a monocot shown is the onion. The part of the onion plant we actually eat is a group of compressed leaves. You can see from the picture that the veins of the leaves all run parallel, demonstrating that the onion is a monocotyledon plant. The veins in this onion are circular but parallel. This makes it a monocot.

Garlic (pictured at the right) is also a monocotyledon. One cotyledon emerges from the ground and it has parallel veins in the leaves. Garlic is a plant in the onion family that is grown for its distinctive taste and health benefits. It contains sulfur compounds which appear to be the source of many of its health benefits. Garlic is low in calories but rich in vitamin C, vitamin B6 and manganese, along with other trace nutrients. 

This castor oil plant (pictured at the right) exhibits cotyledons (two embryonic leaves). They are different from the adult leaves. Castor oil leaf and root can be made into a paste by gently heating them with sesame oil or castor oil and applying externally. The paste can relieve migraine, low back ache, sciatica pain, arthritis pain, mastitis and painful skin disorders. Growing and handling the plant in the garden is not dangerous, but ingesting plant parts (leaves and seeds) which contain the largest concentration of ricin can be deadly. Eating the ricin in the outer hull of the seed can cause nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain resulting in damage to the liver, kidney, and pancreas. Ricin is a toxic chemical that, when concentrated, can even result in death.

Watercress (pictured at the right) is another dicot with abundant nutrients. Researchers believe that watercress can help prevent the cognitive changes associated with Alzheimer's. Watercress can also help repair brain tissue for improved brain health. This is due to the sugar nutrients within the plant. In addition, this leafy green is high in vitamin C, which is essential for boosting brain neuron activity and other brain functions. 

Herbs and plant bitters can have very powerful effects in our bodies. Understanding how to utilize and apply appropriate herbs and plant bitters in our diet can prove to be very important for supporting the human body’s need for sugar nutrients. Knowing the differences between monocots and dicots helps us identify the plants that contain nutritional sugars. Properly harvesting these plants in nature can be critical for supporting the immune system.

​Understanding the eight sugars surrounding every single cell within the body constitutes the study of nutritional glycobiology. For more information on these sugars, see my book here.