What is a cotyledon

Within botany, cotyledón is called the primary leaves of flowers with flowers (phanerogams) and that develop with the Seed germinationwhere they form the first sheet of the embryo. In Botany, the number of cotyledons present in the seed is used as a form of classification of the phanerogamous plants. Cotyledons, outbreaks and roots of the plant are structures that are developed in the embryogenesis process prior to germination.

In addition, for cotyledons to differentiate from the rest of the leaves of the plant they also contribute their size and how many nutrients they have, such as oil, starch or starch.

Some characteristics of cotyledons are:

• They are the first sheet that leaves the plant’s embryo.
• They can be differentiated from other leaves due to their size.
• Its number serves as a method of classification of plants.
• The cotyledon is able to digest the albumen (tissue that surrounds the embryo) and that after germination is used as food. If you want to see this process, we encourage you to do the experiment at home. Learn how to create a germinator and how to use it with this other ecology article.
• Cotyledons have various nutrients in their fabric
• Cotyledons have a short half life because when plants develop the leaves with which they get energy, cotyledons end up falling
• They also have different nutrients.
• It is also important to know that Cotyledons are short -livedbecause when the plant already manages to develop the leaves that really serve to get energy, cotyledons fall.

Cotyledons are very important structures in plants, since They provide nutrients adequate and that are necessary For the seeds to germinate. Another of the cotyledon functions is to absorb and reserve nutrients that are stored in the seed until the time when The seedling be able to generate your own True leaves that are able to carry out the process of photosynthesis.

In addition to the aforementioned, cotyledons are also important for the color of plants, because thanks to them the chloroplasts with which the ability to perform photosynthesis is obtained.

Plants can be classified according to the number of cotyledons in:

Monocotyledonous

The monocotyledonous include angiosperm plants that are characterized by having a single cotyledon in the seed, so after their germination they only have a single primitive sheet instead of two. These plants do not have a real secondary growth, that is, they do not have a true trunk or have Cambium (plant tissue composed of embryonic cells. Monocotyledonous plants are unable to generate wood and their height increases widening the enterudes according to the plant is growing.

The typical example of monocotyledonous plants are grasses (or cereals), such as wheat, corn or sugar cane, but lilies, palm trees, junquillo, tulipanes, onion or orchids are also monocotyled.

Dicotyledons

Dicotyledonous plants are the most common group and the embryo found in their seed has two cotyledons that when germination occurs generate two primitive leaves that will serve as food for the new seedling. The leaves of the dicotyledonous plants can acquire various forms, there are heart -shaped, in the form of tapes or compounds and can have teeth or simple edges. The branches of these plants are composed of annual rings and constituted by phloem and xylem as conductive tissues. In addition, they are able to form wood or firewood.

Dicotyledonous plants are the majority and up to 170,000 species are known. Rosaceae, legumes and routacea belong to this group. As species, we have tobacco, beans, soybeans, peas, chickpeas, margaritas, sunflowers, coffee, carob, roses, avocado or cherries.

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