These plants are usually grass or grass-like and do not grow to great size. Monocot stems do not have vascular cambiums or cork cambiums, as growth will not be lateral. The vascular bundles produced by the procambium are scattered throughout the stem, rather than organized in rings as in woody dicot stems. Every bundle is oriented with the xylem toward the center of the stem and the phloem toward the stem surface. The xylem in the vascular bundle generally consists of two large vessels with some small vessels in between them, while the phloem consists of sieve tubes and companion cells. The entire vascular bundle is wrapped in a sheath of sclerenchyma cells. The background tissue between vascular bundles is not divided into cortex and pith in monocots, but they do have similar function and appearance as the parenchyma cells in cortex and pith. The concentration of bundles and bands of sclerenchyma cells, give the stem the flexibility and strength to withstand the elements—such as a summer rainstorm. In grasses, there is an intercalary meristem at the base o each internode which contributes to growth in length, like apical meristems. During the growing season, the stems of the grasses elongate rapidly. Because there is no vascular cambium that would produce tissues to increase the girth of the plant, the growth is columnar with very little variation in diameter between the top and the bottom of the plant.
Palm trees are special because they grow to a considerable size, however, this is primarily due to the subsequent division and growth of their parenchyma cells. All this growth occurs without a true cambium developing. Other monocot stems have adaptations that allow for specialized growth. Monocot fibers, such as manila hemp and sisal, come from stems and leaves and are used for commercial products however, their fibers are not as strong as dicot fibers.