Fun Facts: Monocots vs Dicots

Last week some of you were noticing that as the squash seeds germinated, the leaves pushing out of the soil had the seed husk still attached. I talked a little bit about seed structure and mentioned briefly that flowering plants are generally classified into two types: monocots and dicots. Their seeds are structured differently and so their germination looks a little different too, as shown in the diagram below.

For an entertaining (and really quite informative) tutorial on the differences between monocots and dicots, check out fourth grader Julia Sherwin's claymation video on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBz1unaMr6I.