[dahy-kot-l-eed-n, dahy-kot-l-] 
| any angiospermous plant of the class (or subclass) Dicotyledoneae, producing seeds with two cotyledons and having an exogenous manner of growth. |
| di·cot·y·le·don (dī'kŏt'l-ēd'n) n. A flowering plant with two embryonic seed leaves or cotyledons that usually appear at germination. di'cot'y·le'don·ous (-l-ēd'n-əs) adj. |
| dicotyledon (dī'kŏt'l-ēd'n) or dicot (dī'kŏt'l-ēd'n) Pronunciation Key
An angiosperm that is not a monocotyledon, having two cotyledons in the seed. The term dicotyledon serves as a convenient label for the eudicotyledons, the magnoliids, and a varied group of other angiosperms, but it does not correspond to a single taxonomic group. Compare monocotyledon. See more at eudicotyledon, leaf, magnoliid. |
dicotyledon
any member of the flowering plants, or angiosperms, that has a pair of leaves, or cotyledons, in the embryo of the seed. There are about 175,000 known species of dicots. Most common garden plants, shrubs and trees, and broad-leafed flowering plants such as magnolias, roses, geraniums, and hollyhocks are dicots.
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