Major Plant Group

Fern or fern ally The pteridophytes as traditionally treated:  spore-producing but flowerless and seedless vascular plants that are usually differentiated into roots, stems, and leaf-like fronds.   Gymnosperm As traditionally treated:  woody vascular seed plants that produce naked seeds (not enclosed within an ovary).   Flowering plant Vascular plants that produce true flowers and fruits that bear seeds.   Monocot flowering plant Members of a biological class of angiosperms (flowering plants) having embryos with a single cotyledon.  Most monocots generally have the following characteristics: 1.  Principal leaf veins produced in parallel pattern from the base. 2.  Leaf margins nearly always entire. 3.  Flower parts arranged in threes or multiples of three. 4.  Root system fibrous, lacking a taproot. 5.  Vascular bundles of the stem scattered throughout, not formed in a cylinder or ring. 6.  Plants rarely woody (Arecaceae and Smilacaceae are exceptions), stems lacking a cylindric cambium. 7.  Embryos with one cotyledon.   Dicot flowering plant Members of a biological class of angiosperms (flowering plants) having embryos with two cotyledons.  Most dicots generally have the following characteristics: 1.  Principal leaf veins branched from the midrib or from its base. 2.  Leaf margins entire or toothed. 3.  Flower parts arranged in twos, fours, fives, or indeterminate. 4.  Root system commonly a taproot with branched roots. 5.  Vascular bundles of the stem produced in a single cylinder or ring (cross-section). 6.  Cambium of woody plants produced in a new ring annually. 7.  Embryos with two cotyledons.