Print this page in landscape format Back to Courses
Plant Family Characteristics for Field Identification NAME:                                                           
Class Liliopsida (Monocotyledons) Common Monocot Families in the Midwest.
Monocots typically have flower parts in 3's; parallel veined leaves.
FAMILY CALYX COROLLA ANDROECIUM GYNOECIUM FRUIT LEAVES OTHER NOTES,
common genera
Liliaceae

Lily 		3 sepals 3 petals 6 (or 3) stamens ovary superior or inferior
3 carpels, syncarpous		 capsule

berry		 mostly narrow, but wide in Trillium Petals and sepals often look alike = Tepals
Iridaceae

Iris 		             
Orchidaceae

Orchid 		             
Commelinaceae

Spiderwort 		             
Juncaceae

Rush 		             
Cyperaceae

Sedge 		             
Gramineae
or
Poaceae

Grass 		             
Araceae

Philodendron 		Perianth of 4 - 6 free or fused segments 6 stamens (1) 2 - 3 (9)
Syncarpous, ovary usually superior 		berry Simple or compound, petiole base sheathing, variously veined. Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual, in a spadix often subtended by a showy spathe.
Arisaema, Symplocarpus, Calla, Acorus