Monocots
A quarter of all flowering plant species fall into the Monocotyledons, or Monocots. This includes the orchids, lilies, palms and grasses. Conservation assessments of 1,500 monocots are coordinated by and the Sampled Red List Index for Plants team at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew .
Consisting of 65,000 species, monocots include some of the most economically important plant species including rice, sugar cane, wheat, pineapples and bananas. With a range of habitat types in which they are found, monocots face a range of different threats, such as pesticides, collection for the ornamental trade, land-use changes, loss of important pollinator species, pollution, and climate change.
The preliminary assessment of monocot species has estimated that over a fifth of species are threatened with extinction, with the most prevalent threat being habitat destruction. Final results are due to be released later in 2012.
