CHAPTER III. 



MONOCOTYLEDONS (PLANTS WITH A 

 SINGLE COTYLEDON OR SEED-LEAF). 



'HPHIS second great class, the Monocotyledons, is 

 -■- so-called because, as indicated above, the seed 

 with the entire embryo possesses a single cotyledon 

 or seed-leaf. It is true that there are Dicotyledons, 

 as amongst the Ranunculacese, in which, as in 

 Eranthis, there is but one cotyledon, but the propor- 

 tion of the monocotylous types in the class Dicoty- 

 ledons is insignificant, and the rest of the characters 

 afforded by each class suffice to distinguish the two. 

 A large proportion, over 30 per cent., of the Mono- 

 cotyledons is aquatic, and it has been suggested by 

 Henslow that the monocotylous character is a mark 

 of their adaptation to an aquatic habit. It is, at least, 

 significant that several of the monocotylous Dicoty- 

 ledons are geophilous, as are many Monocotyledons ; 

 and that, in some cases, as in the Lesser Celandine, 

 the stomata are situated as in an aquatic plant. 

 Other authorities regard the monocotyledonous 

 habit as due to suppression of one seed-leaf, and so 



