Monocots (including such groups as grasses, palms, orchids, and philodendrons) include more than 65,000 species of flowering plants, occur in almost all habitats, and provide the great majority of the human diet. A definitive family tree for this group will be developed and used to understand the broad-scale evolution of monocots over geologic time. A total of 23 genes in 601 species, whole chloroplast genomes in 175 species, and all genes expressed in 50 species will be sequenced and used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of this group. Additionally, phenotypic data from living and fossil species will be collected, and all data will be analyzed integratively to provide a comprehensive understanding of monocot evolution.