Biology

Plant Biology and Classification

1,473 Questions

Plant Biology and Classification deals with the taxonomy, evolution, and morphological features of the plant kingdom. This collection offers practice questions on plant groups, taxonomic hierarchies, and specific plant characteristics. The questions are tailored for students preparing for biology competitive exams.

Plant taxonomyPteridophytesAngiospermsPlant morphologyAlgae and bryophytesClassification systems

Plant Biology and Classification Questions

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

The plants with primitive vascular tissue are called

  1. Bryophytes

  2. Pteridophytes

  3. Angiosperms

  4. Gymnosperms
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation
A. Bryophytes are the first land inhabiting or terrestrial plants. They are non vascular, terrestrial, non-flowering and non-seeded plants.
B. Pteridophytes are also known as vascular cryptograms. They are seedless vascular plants which have vascularised root, stem and leaves. 
C. Gymnosperms are the naked seeded plants.
D. Angiosperms are seed bearing and flowering vascular plants which have their seeds enclosed in fruits.
Hence, plants with primitive vascular tissue are called Pteridophytes.
So, the correct answer is 'Pteridophytes'.
Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

The pteridophyte, popularly known as 'horsetail' or a 'scouring rush' is

  1. Equisetum

  2. Fern

  3. Lycopodium

  4. Psilotum
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Horsetail is in a family of plants containing about 35 species within the genus Equisetum. Scouring rush (Equisetum hyemale) is evergreen, with leafless, hollow, segmented stems with ash-colored bands. Stems grow to about 1/2 inch in diameter and reach up to five feet tall. Because the stems are rough and durable (due to their high silica content), they were called as scouring rushes, because early pioneers used them to scrub pots and pans. 

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Which group of plants is called as vascular cryptogams?

  1. Pteridophyta

  2. Bryophytes

  3. Algae

  4. Fungi
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Vascular cryptogam is an old botanical phrase and it refers to those vascular plants that do not make seeds. Thus, cryptogam refers to the production of a separate, usually very small, archegoniate gametophyte. These are well represented in the fossil record.

Thus, vascular cryptogams are pteridophytes.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Pteridophytes differ from bryophytes in having

  1. Vascular tissues

  2. Archegonia

  3. Motile sperms

  4. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation
Bryophyta:
1. The main plant body is a gametophyte and haploid.
2. True roots and leaves are absent.
3. Vascular tissue is absent.
4. Archegonia with a long neck having 6 vertical rows of cells.
5. The sporophyte is capsular and totally dependent on the gametophyte.
Pteridophyta:
1. The main plant body is a sporophyte and diploid.
2. True roots and leaves are present.
3. Vascular tissue is present.
4. Archegonia with a short neck having 4 vertical rows of cells.
5. The sporophyte is differentiated to root, stem and leaves and is initially dependent on the gametophyte.
Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Plants reproducing by spores such as mosses and ferns are grouped under the general term

  1. Cryptogams

  2. Bryophytes

  3. Sporophytes

  4. Thallophytes
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Cryptogams refer to the plants and fungi that do not reproduce by seeds. Besides these, the cryptogams are also known to reproduce by means of spores. All spore producing plants including mosses and ferns do not reproduce by seeds are hence, known as cryptogams.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Which one of the following is called as horsetail?

  1. Lycopodium

  2. Marsilia

  3. Equisetum

  4. Selaginella
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The name horsetail, often used for the entire group, arose because the branched species somewhat resemble a horse's tail. 
Equisetum is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
Equisetum is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Cryptogams are

  1. Flowering plant

  2. Flowerless plants, seedless plants or lower plants

  3. Higher plants

  4. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

A cryptogam is a plant  that reproduces by spores and it is without flowers or seeds. Cryptogamae means hidden reproduction which refers to the fact that no seed is produced, thus cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants. Other names, such as "thallophytes", "lower plants", and "spore plants" are also occasionally used.

Cryptogams are the opposite of the Phanerogamae or Spermatophyta the seed plants.
Therefore, the correct answer is option B.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Ectophloic siphonostele occurs in ___________________.

  1. Marsilea and Botrychium

  2. Dicksonia and Maiden Hair Fern

  3. Osmunda and Equisetum

  4. Adiantum and Cucurbitaceae
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Ectophloic siphonostele, where the phloem is restricted to the outer surface of the xylem, is a characteristic feature found in Osmunda and Equisetum.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Which group of plants among the following were the first to develop into an independent sporophytic generation?

  1. Bryophytes

  2. Pteridophytes

  3. Gymnosperms

  4. Angiosperms
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The plants exhibit the alternation of generations in their life cycle. The lower plants have a dependent sporophytic generation of the gametophyte. The first plants to develop as an independent sporophytic generation are the pteridophytes. These are the vascular plants which can survive in the terrestrial areas and has a independent diploid sporophytic stage. 

Thus, the correct answer is option B. 

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

Which of the following is also called as club moss?

  1. Pteris

  2. Lycopodium

  3. Equisetum

  4. Marsilia
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Lycopodium is a genus of clubmosses which is also known as ground pines or creeping cedar. They are flowerless, vascular, terrestrial or epiphytic plants, with widely branched, erect, prostrate or creeping stems, with small, simple, needle-like or scale-like leaves that cover the stem and branches thickly. Their leaves contain a single, unbranched vascular strand and are microphylls by definition. The kidney-shaped or reniform spore-cases (sporangia) contain spores of one kind only (isosporous, homosporous) and are borne on the upper surface of the leaf blade of specialized leaves (sporophylls) arranged in a cone-like strobilus at the end of upright stems. The club-shaped appearance of these fertile stems gives the clubmosses their common name.

Multiple choice botany kingdom plantae introduction to pteridophytes cryptogams pteridophyta pteridophytes

The plants which are differentiated into roots, stems and leaves but do not bear flowers and seeds are classified as

  1. Thallophytes

  2. Bryophytes

  3. Pteridophytes

  4. Hydrophytes
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Pteridophytes are vascular plants and have leaves (known as fronds), roots and sometimes true stems, and tree ferns have full trunks. For example, ferns, horsetails and clubmosses. Fronds in the largest species of ferns can reach some six meters in length. Many ferns from tropical rain forests are epiphytes, which means they only grow on other plant species. Their water comes from the damp air or from rainfall running down branches and tree trunks. There are also some purely aquatic ferns such as water fern or water velvet (Salvinia molesta) and mosquito ferns (Azolla species). Thallophytes and bryophytes are not differentiated into roots, stems and leaves. Hydrophytes are differentiated into roots, stems and leaves and bear flowers and seeds. 

Therefore, the correct answer is option C.