Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants for NEET UG
Flowers exist to reproduce. Follow the journey from pollen and ovule to pollination, double fertilisation, seed and fruit, and see the special tricks plants use.
BiologyClass 1295 MCQs3 lessons13 flashcards4 memory tricks
Practise Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants free
What you'll learn
- Male and female gametophytes
Describe the structure of the anther, pollen grain, ovule and embryo sac. - Pollination and double fertilisation
Compare types of pollination and explain double fertilisation and its products. - Outbreeding devices, apomixis and polyembryony
Explain how plants avoid self-pollination and form seeds without fertilisation.
Memory tricks
Wind-pollinated flowers (maize, grasses) are small, dull, unscented, with light, plentiful pollen. Insect-pollinated flowers are colourful and scented, with nectar.
Male gamete + egg = zygote (2n). Second male gamete + two polar nuclei = primary endosperm nucleus (3n).
Tender coconut water is free-nuclear endosperm (thousands of nuclei, no cell walls). The white kernel is cellular endosperm.
A typical angiosperm embryo sac has 3 antipodals, 2 synergids, 1 egg cell and 1 central cell with 2 polar nuclei.
Try 3 NEET-style questions
Q1. The exine of the pollen grain is made of sporopollenin, which
- is among the most resistant organic materials known
- is easily broken down by most enzymes
- dissolves readily in water and weak acids
- is made of cellulose and pectin like intine
Show answer
Answer: (1) is among the most resistant organic materials known
Sporopollenin withstands high temperatures, strong acids and alkali, and no known enzyme degrades it. That is why pollen is well preserved as fossils.
Q2. Prominent apertures in the exine of a pollen grain, where sporopollenin is absent, are
- the tapetum
- the intine
- germ pores
- the filiform apparatus
Show answer
Answer: (3) germ pores
The exine has germ pores where sporopollenin is absent; the pollen tube emerges through them.
Q3. In an ovule, the hilum is
- the region where the body of the ovule fuses with the funicle
- the opening at the tip of the integuments
- the basal part opposite the micropyle
- the mass of cells inside the integuments
Show answer
Answer: (1) the region where the body of the ovule fuses with the funicle
The hilum is the junction between the ovule and the funicle (the stalk attaching it to the placenta).
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