The embryo of monocot plants has only one cotyledon. In grass family it is called scutellum which is located at one side of embryonal axis.

At its lower end the embryonal axis has the radical and root cap enclosed in an undifferentiated sheath called coleorrhiza. The portion of the embryonal axis above the level of attachment of scutellum is the epicotyl. Epicotyl has a shoot apex and a few leaf primordia enclosed in a hollow foliar structure, the coleoptile.