No, I didn't know black palm and bamboo were monocots until I looked it up. I have always found the end grains of these two woods to have a striking appearance so I decided to make a pen with end grain showing. What a tough pen to make. The black palm has hard and soft wood and the bamboo isn't much different. Now flip them to the grain side and try to turn that. I had plenty of issues with flying pieces of wood. There were many come-aparts! I had at least one and the blanks had five or so. Eventually, using the combination of really sharp tools and doing some power sanding, I was able to get the blanks down to size and shape. In between the wood is brass and aluminum. I don't believe I will be making an end grain pen again. I like the results but it took about three days considering the re-builds and come-aparts.