acotyledonousadj.
/ˌeɪkɒtᵻˈliːdn̩əs/, /əˌkɒtᵻˈliːdn̩əs/, U.S. /ˌeɪˌkɑdlˈidn̩əs/ Botany.
Of a plant or plant embryo: having no distinct cotyledons (seed leaves). Also (esp. in early use): belonging or relating to the division Acotyledones of the Jussiaean system of botanical classification. Cf. acotyledon n.
ΚΠ
1784 New Rev. Feb. 115 Linnæus was, therefore, in the wrong, in saying that mosses were acotyledonous.
1793 T. Martyn Lang. Bot. sig. M3 Monocotyledones plantæ, plants which have only one cotyledon or lobe in the seed... Linneus remarks that these are more properly Acotyledonous, since the cotyledon continues within the seed.
1835 W. J. Hooker Brit. Flora 477 Acotyledonous or Cellular Plants: this class corresponds with the 24th Cryptogamia in the Linnæan System.
1842 A. Gray Bot. Text-bk. i. x. 185 The Acotyledonous plants of Jussieu do not produce embryos at all, nor true seeds.
1893 Brit. Gardening 26 Jan. 45/2 The roots of Ferns and the higher acotyledonous orders are structurally the same at the stem.
1905 Q. Oregon Hist. Soc. 6 187 My partiality for acotyledonous plants was amply gratified in the abundance of Lichens, Musci & Jungermanniæ this place afforded.
1966 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 93 21 Is the monocotyledon embryo not intrinsically dicotyledonous and externally acotyledonous?
2002 Internat. Jrnl. Plant Sci. 163 304/1 Embryos produced on 444μM BA [= benzyladenine] were almost exclusively acotyledonous.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1784