Tag: seeds - structure and germination

Cremocarp is the fruit of family Umbelliferae consisting of a pair of carpels pendent from a supporting axis. The fruits are nonfleshy schizocarp of two mericarps, each with a single seed; they separate at maturity and are dispersed by wind. Some fruit segments are covered in bristles and spread via external transport. The seeds have an oily endosperm and generally contain large quantities of fatty oils, with the fatty acid petroselinic acid occurring universally throughout the family while rarely being found outside of the Apiaceae.
Therefore, the correct answer is option A.

A true nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and an edible seed. The shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent), e.g., hazelnut, chestnuts, walnuts, almonds and pecans are drupes.

Seed coat is not thin in coconut. The fruit is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part-exocarp or skin and mesocarp or flesh surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. The coconut is  a drupe, but the mesocarp is fibrous or dry, so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry fruit, fibrous drupe. 
Therefore, the correct answer is option A.

A drupe or stone fruit is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part-exocarp, or skin and mesocarp or flesh surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone (or pit) is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. The mesocarp of coconut is fibrous or dry (termed a husk), so this type of fruit is classified as a drupe, simple dry fruit, fibrous drupe. Unlike other drupes, the coconut seed is unlikely to be dispersed by or being swallowed by fauna, due to its large size. It can, however, float extremely long distances across oceans.
Thus, the correct answer is option B.

Wheat grain is caryopsis. A caryopsis is a type of simple dry fruit that is monocarpellate and indehiscent and resembles an achene, except that in a caryopsis, the pericarp is fused with the thin seed coat. The caryopsis is popularly called as a grain and is the fruit typical of the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), which includes wheat, rice and corn. The term grain is also used in a more general sense as synonymous with cereal. Considering that the fruit wall and the seed are intimately fused into a single unit and the caryopsis or grain is a dry fruit, little concern is given to technically separating the terms fruit and seed in these plant structures. 
Thus, the correct answer is option C.

Cotyledonary node of embryo lies between epicotyl and hypocotyl. The epicotyl is the embryonic shoot above the cotyledons. In most plants the epicotyl will eventually develop into 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.
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.
Therefore, the correct answer is option C.

The seed is endospermic in Ricinus. A characteristic of castor seed is the presenee of caruncle which develops from peduncle. The fruit is a spiny, greenish capsule containing large, oval, shiny, bean-like, highly poisonous seeds with variable brownish mottling.
A capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels. Castor seeds have a warty appendage called as the caruncle, which is a type of elaiosome. The seeds are endospermic or albuminous where the embryo is embedded in the endosperm and nucellus, which the seedling will use upon germination. 
Therefore, the correct answer is option A.

In coconut, the fruit is a drupe, a thin embryo is inconspicuous and endosperm is edible. The coconut is a drupe, a multicarpellary ovary is not found  in coconut. The mesocarp is fibrous or dry, so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry fruit, fibrous drupe. A drupe otherwise is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part-exocarp, or skin and mesocarp or flesh surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone  is derived from the ovary wall of the flower.
Therefore, the correct answer is option D.

Legume or pod fruits are monocarpellary (from monomerous gynoecium), generally multiseeded, hypogynous flower, marginal placentation. Dehiscence is on two sides (ventral and dorsal) from the apex of the fruit. Characteristic for Fabaceae. Monocarpillary means ovary with one carpel. The legume fruits do not develops from inferior ovary, bicarpillary ovary and multicarpillary ovary. 
Thus, the correct answer is option B.

In agriculture, the majority of the biomass produced comes from monocots. These include not only major grains (rice, wheat, maize, etc.), but also forage grasses, sugar cane, and the bamboos. Other economically important monocot crops include various palms (Arecaceae), bananas (Musaceae), gingers and their relatives, turmeric and cardamom (Zingiberaceae) and the onions and garlic family (Amaryllidaceae). Additionally, most of the horticultural bulbs, plants cultivated for their blooms, are monocots, such as lilies, daffodils, irises, amaryllis, cannas, bluebells and tulips. Maize is a flowering plant and not a dicot or pteridophyte. Almond is a dicot as it has  two cotyledons in their seeds.