noun
- a seedling or young plant that has more than two cotyledons (seed leaves), or a plant that develops from such a seedling.
Usage: botanical term; contrasts with monocot and dicot
Examples
- Conifers such as pines are polycots, with multiple cotyledons visible in their seedlings.
- The botanist examined the polycot embryo under the microscope.
- Unlike dicots with two seed leaves, a polycot may have three or more cotyledons.
- Ginkgo trees are examples of polycots found in temperate regions.
- In plant taxonomy, polycots represent a smaller group compared to monocots and dicots.