Dicotyledon
Lamium album (white dead nettle)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms Eudicotوتخهههعبقسبدتتتتحازیبتتتهحمل۱ربل Magnoliid Amborella Nymphaeales Austrobaileyales Chloranthales Ceratophyllum
Synonyms
Dicotyledoneae

Young castor oil plant showing its prominent two embryonic leaves (cotyledons). They differ from the adult leaves.

The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are one of the two groups of flowering plants (angiosperms). The name refers to their seeds having two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 200,000 species in this group.

The other group of flowering plants were called monocotyledons or monocots, with one cotyledon. Historically, these two groups formed the two divisions of the flowering plants.

Sequence analysis showed what botanists already suspected: dicotyledons are not a monophyletic group. They are a number of lines, such as the magnoliids, and groups now known as basal angiosperms. They diverged earlier than the monocots did. The traditional dicots are a paraphyletic group.