BioConcepts

Monocotyledoneaemonocotyledones (lat.); Monocotyledoneae (ger.)

• A flowering plant with an embryo bearing a single cotyledon (seed-leaf); a member of the Monocotyledoneae (also Monocotyledonae or Monocotyledones), the smaller of the two major divisions traditionally recognized among angiosperms, comprising such plants (now often called Liliopsida or Liliidae). (OED 2002)  
  category plant see also Dicotyledoneae

  1703

  Floriferas dividemus in Dicotyledones, quarum semina sata binis foliis anomalis, Seminalibus dictis, quæ Cotyledonum usum præstant, è terra exeunt, vel in binos saltem lobos dividuntur, quamvis eos supra terram foliorum spevies nou efferant: & Monocotyledones, quae nec folia seminalia bina efferunt, nec lobos binos condunt.

  Ray, J. (1703). Methodus plantarum emendata et aucta: 1.

  1730

  Monocotyledon [Bot.], which springs from the Seed with a single Leaf at first, as Corn, Tulips, Onions, &c.

  Bailey, N. (1730). Dictionarium Britannicum: or a More Compleat Universal Etymological English Dictonary: s.v.

  1789

  universalis plantarum distinctio in Acotyledones, Monocotyledones & Dicotyledones recta ac inconcussa subsistit

  Jussieu, A.-L. de (1789). Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita: xlv.