Other differences:

Monocot	Dicot
vs
Seeds with one cotyledon or seed leaf,	or with two
Flower parts in threes or multiples of three,	or in fours or fives and multiples thereof
Vascular cambium and cork cambium absent	or one or both present
Pollen grains with one aperture	or with three apertures (thin areas in the wall)

Two common early spring broad-leaf Dicot plants that frustrate the lawn Grasses as they attempt to emerge from winter quietude include D0andelion, Taraxacum officinale and Common chickweed, Stellaria media. Look closely at their leaves: both have pinnate, (or arranged like the components of a feather along its quill) non-parallel veins on leaves that grow wider than Grass blades and don’t resemble Grasses. If your objective is an all-grass lawn, these broad-leaf volunteers become intruders.

Dandelion can remain green across all four seasons, and Chickweed remains green in all but the hottest and driest of weather. This gives us gardeners time to grow to recognize them and thwart their lawn disruption.

Both seed vigorously and have superb seed distribution systems which help them to grow and re-generate all season long. Both regenerate from even little bits of roots that you leave behind when you pull them out incompletely. More on how both proliferate quickly to conquer the territory you may have intended for Grass or other plants appears in the next few sections.

Left: Dandelion popping up in the lawn Right: Common chickweed taking over patches of lawn territory

The English common name “Dandelion” comes from the French “dent-de-lion”, or tooth of the lion, to reflect its roaring proliferation and predation as much as to reflect its jagged leaf lobes, taproots and petals. I meet its fierceness with a hunt of my own that ends in its removal. Pioneers brought it here to eat and to use to make wine and beer. Its tag of “officinale” (Taraxacum officinale) means pharmaceutically choice, not official. Settlers intentionally planted it in their medicinal gardens. Just beware of its diuretic effects. I tried it, and yes, it is an all-too effective diuretic. The French common name for Dandelion is “Pissenlit” or “Wet the bed.”

Don’t chicken out about removing Common chickweed. This common invader emits “allelopaths”, or chemicals that discourage or poison nearby competitors. In Common chickweed these chemicals, called ‘soluble phenolics’, inhibit the growth of Wheat, Barley, Strawberry, Potato, and Grass. While Common chickweed’s leaves are shaped like spoons as if to invite dining, and while they’re my favorite moist munchable in the garden, I can’t eat them fast enough to stop their widespread invasion.