Plural of dicotyledon; flowering plants that have two seed leaves when they germinate.
From Greek 'di-' (two) + 'kotyledon' (seed leaf). Developed as a botanical classification term in the 17th century as scientists began systematically categorizing plant diversity.
When you split open a peanut or bean, those two halves are actually the cotyledons—each one is a stored food packet that feeds the growing plant until it can photosynthesize!
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