In plant physiology, the epicotyl is the embryonic shoot above the cotyleons. In most plants the epicotyl will eventually develop into the stem and the leaves of the plant. In dicots, the hypocotyl is what appears to be the base stem under the spent withered cotyledons, and the shoot just above that is the epicotyl. The hypocotyl is what develops into the roots of the plant. In monocot plants, the first shoot that emerges from the ground or from the seed is the epicotyl, from which the first shoots and leaves emerge.