cotyledon: cot-a-LEE-don

Cotyledons are the first leaves of a germinating seed. It's a useful skill to identify a plant by their cotyledons, to know what to keep and what to take out. 

For example, some new sprouts appeared under a shrub. I didn't purposely plant anything there but the cotyledons looked unlike any other weeds that are in the garden. Good thing I decided to let them grow a bit more, because it turns out that they're luffa! A gourd was indeed left to dry and was peeled open at that spot, so some seeds would have been left in the soil.