Contrary to empirical observations, lowest-order k ·p theory predicts that monolayer black phosphorus ("phosphorene") is completely immune to zigzag-polarized optical excitation at the bandgap energy. Using symmetry arguments, we derive a 2 × 2 Hamiltonian under the k ·p formalism including higher-order corrections, which is used to show that the experimentally-measured band-gap transition with zigzag polarization is dominated by the third order k·p perturbation in the interband optical matrix element, whereas the effects of spin-orbit interaction are negligible in this material, consistent with a trivial orbital diamagnetic contribution to the g-factor.arXiv:1908.10837v2 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]