Plant Kingdom NEET PYQReal NEET & AIPMT 2005–2021 questions, year-tagged, with solutions
By the RankUp team, founded by Dr. Deepak Sahu (MBBS Gold Medalist, NEET PG AIR 1731) · Updated
Every Plant Kingdom question from the NEET & AIPMT papers on this site (2005–2021), newest first. Each is tagged with its paper. Tap an option to check your answer and read the explanation.
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Plant Kingdom previous year questions
61 questions. Tap an option to check your answer.
Q1NEET 2021
Gemmae are present in :
Not quite — the answer is D.
Gemmae are green, multicellular asexual buds formed in gemma cups on the thalli of some liverworts such as Marchantia. Mosses reproduce vegetatively by fragmentation and budding of the secondary protonema, not by gemmae in cups.
Q2NEET 2021
Which of the following algae produce Carrageen ?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Carrageen is a hydrocolloid obtained commercially from red algae (Rhodophyceae). Brown algae yield algin instead.
Q3NEET 2021
Which of the following plants is monoecious ?
Not quite — the answer is B.
Chara is monoecious: the male globule and the female oogonium develop on the same plant. Papaya, Marchantia polymorpha and Cycas circinalis bear male and female structures on separate plants, so they are dioecious.
Q4NEET 2021
Genera like Selaginella and Salvinia produce two kinds of spores. Such plants are known as :
Not quite — the answer is D.
Selaginella and Salvinia produce two kinds of spores, small microspores and large megaspores, so they are heterosporous. Homosporous plants produce only one kind of spore.
Q5NEET 2021
Which of the following algae contains mannitol as reserve food material ?
Not quite — the answer is A.
Brown algae store food as laminarin or mannitol, and Ectocarpus is a brown alga. Gracilaria is a red alga storing floridean starch, while Volvox and Ulothrix are green algae storing starch.
Q6NEET 2020 · Q50
Floridean starch has structure similar to:
Not quite — the answer is B.
Floridean starch, the stored food of red algae, has a structure very similar to amylopectin and glycogen. Mannitol and laminarin are stored food of brown algae, and cellulose and algin are wall materials, not reserve food.
Q7NEET 2020 · Q53
Which of the following pairs is of unicellular algae?
Not quite — the answer is D.
NCERT names Chlorella and Spirulina as unicellular, protein-rich algae used as food supplements. Laminaria, Sargassum, Gelidium and Gracilaria are large multicellular algae, and Volvox is colonial.
Q8NEET 2020 · Q71
Strobili or cones are found in:
Not quite — the answer is D.
In Equisetum (and Selaginella) the sporophylls are packed into compact strobili or cones. Salvinia bears spores in sporocarps, Pteris has sori on the leaf margin, and Marchantia is a liverwort whose sporophyte has no cones.
Q9NEET 2019 · Q153
Pinus seed cannot germinate and establish without fungal association. This is because :
Not quite — the answer is B.
Pinus has an obligate association with mycorrhizal fungi; its seeds do not germinate and establish without them. An immature embryo or hard seed coat would cause dormancy but would not explain the need for a fungus.
Q10NEET 2018 · Q130
Which of the following statements is correct?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Gymnosperms have naked ovules that are not enclosed in an ovary, which is the basis of their name. Horsetails (Equisetum) are pteridophytes, both Selaginella and Salvinia are heterosporous, and Cedrus has a branched stem although Cycas is unbranched.
Q11NEET 2018 · Q134
Winged pollen grains are present in
Not quite — the answer is D.
Pinus pollen grains have two air-filled wings (sacs) that help in wind dispersal. Cycas pollen is wingless, and mango and mustard are angiosperms with ordinary pollen.
Q12NEET 2018 · Q135
Which one is wrongly matched?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Polysiphonia is a red alga, and red algae have no flagellated cells at any stage, so pairing it with uniflagellate gametes is the wrong match. Chlorella is indeed a unicellular green alga, Marchantia bears gemma cups and brown algae produce pear-shaped biflagellate zoospores, so those pairs are correct.
Q13NEET 2017 · Q55
Select the mismatch:
Not quite — the answer is A.
Pinus is monoecious, bearing both male and female cones on the same plant, so pairing it with dioecious is the mismatch. Cycas is truly dioecious, Salvinia is a heterosporous water fern and Equisetum is homosporous.
Q14NEET 2017 · Q78
An example of colonial alga is:
Not quite — the answer is B.
Volvox is a colonial green alga, a hollow sphere of many flagellated cells. Chlorella is unicellular, while Ulothrix and Spirogyra are filamentous.
Q15NEET 2017 (Gujarati paper) · Q75
Identify and select the wrong statement out of the following:
Not quite — the answer is C.
Sequoia, the giant redwood and one of the tallest trees, is a gymnosperm (a conifer), not an angiosperm. Pine roots do form mycorrhizae, Cycas coralloid roots harbour nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, and needle-like leaves reduce water loss.
Q16NEET 2017 (Gujarati paper) · Q84
Which of the following is a proteinaceous and water soluble photosynthetic pigment?
Not quite — the answer is B.
Phycocyanin is a phycobiliprotein, a water-soluble pigment-protein complex of cyanobacteria and red algae that captures light for photosynthesis. Xanthophylls and chlorophylls are fat-soluble, and anthocyanin is a water-soluble vacuolar pigment that is not proteinaceous and not photosynthetic.
Q17NEET 2016 Phase 2 · Q95
Conifers are adapted to tolerate extreme environmental conditions because of
Not quite — the answer is C.
Conifer needles have a thick cuticle and sunken stomata, which cut water loss and let them survive cold and dry conditions. Their leaves are needle-like rather than broad, the stomata are sunken rather than superficial, and gymnosperms generally lack vessels in their xylem.
Q18NEET 2016 Phase 2 · Q96
Which one of the following statements is wrong?
Not quite — the answer is B.
The sources are reversed in this statement: algin comes from brown algae and carrageenan from red algae. Agar from Gelidium and Gracilaria, the use of Laminaria and Sargassum as food, and the release of oxygen by photosynthetic algae are all correct.
Q19NEET 2016 Phase 1 · Q140
Select the correct statement:
Not quite — the answer is C.
Sequoia (giant redwood), a gymnosperm, is one of the tallest trees. Gymnosperms are all heterosporous, Salvinia is a pteridophyte, and gymnosperm needles with thick cuticle and sunken stomata are well adapted to extreme climates.
Q20NEET 2016 Phase 1 · Q154
In bryophytes and pteridophytes, transport of male gametes requires:
Not quite — the answer is D.
Bryophytes and pteridophytes have flagellated (motile) antherozoids that must swim through a film of water to reach the archegonium, which is why they are called amphibians of the plant kingdom (bryophytes) and are restricted to moist places.
Q21AIPMT 2015
In which of the following gametophyte is not independent free living?
Not quite — the answer is A.
In gymnosperms such as Pinus, the gametophytes are much reduced and stay within the ovule or pollen grain, depending on the sporophyte. Funaria and Marchantia (bryophytes) and Pteris (fern) have free-living gametophytes.
Q22AIPMT 2015
Which one of the following statements is wrong?
Not quite — the answer is A.
Mannitol (with laminarin) is the stored food of brown algae (Phaeophyceae); red algae store floridean starch, so that statement is wrong. Algin and carrageen come from algae, agar from Gelidium and Gracilaria, and Chlorella and Spirulina are used as space food.
Q23AIPMT 2015
Male gametes are flagellated in:
Not quite — the answer is D.
Ectocarpus, a brown alga, produces pear-shaped gametes with two laterally attached flagella. Spirogyra and Polysiphonia have non-motile gametes, and Anabaena is a cyanobacterium with no flagellated gametes.
Q24AIPMT 2014
An alga which can be employed as food for human being is:
Not quite — the answer is A.
Chlorella is a unicellular green alga rich in proteins and is used as a food supplement, even by space travellers. Spirogyra, Polysiphonia and Ulothrix are not used as human food.
Q25AIPMT 2014
Which one of the following is wrong about Chara?
Not quite — the answer is B.
In Chara the oogonium (nucule) lies above and the round antheridium (globule) lies below at the same node, so the statement 'upper antheridium and lower oogonium' is wrong. Globule and nucule do occur on the same plant and the globule is the male structure, so those statements are correct.
Q26AIPMT 2014
Which of the following is responsible for peat formation?
Not quite — the answer is C.
The moss Sphagnum accumulates as peat, which is used as fuel and as packing material because of its water-holding capacity. Riccia and Marchantia are liverworts and Funaria is a moss that does not form peat.
Q27AIPMT 2014
Which one of the following shows isogamy with non-flagellated gametes?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Spirogyra reproduces by isogamy in which the fusing gametes are similar in size and non-flagellated (non-motile). Ulothrix and Ectocarpus have flagellated isogametes, and Sargassum is oogamous.
Q28NEET 2013
Isogamous condition with non-flagellated gametes is found in
Not quite — the answer is B.
Spirogyra shows isogamous conjugation in which the fusing gametes are similar and non-flagellated (amoeboid). Chlamydomonas has flagellated isogametes, while Volvox and Fucus are oogamous.
Q29NEET 2013
Besides paddy fields, cyanobacteria are also found inside vegetative part of
Not quite — the answer is B.
The coralloid roots of Cycas harbour cyanobacteria such as Anabaena and Nostoc in a special zone. Pinus has fungal mycorrhiza instead, and Equisetum and Psilotum have no such cyanobacterial association.
Q30NEET 2013
Read the following statements (A–E) and answer the question which follows them: (A) In liverworts, mosses and ferns gametophytes are free-living (B) Gymnosperms and some ferns are heterosporous (C) Sexual reproduction in Fucus, Volvox and Albugo is oogamous (D) The sporophyte in liverworts is more elaborate than that in mosses (E) Both Pinus and Marchantia are dioecious How many of the above statements are correct?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Three statements are correct: gametophytes of liverworts, mosses and ferns are free-living; gymnosperms and some ferns (e.g. Salvinia) are heterosporous; and Fucus, Volvox and Albugo are oogamous. The sporophyte of mosses is more elaborate than that of liverworts, and Pinus is monoecious, so the other two are wrong.
Q31NEET 2013
Monoecious plant of Chara shows occurrence of
Not quite — the answer is D.
In Chara the female sex organ, the oogonium (nucule), is borne above the male antheridium (globule) at the same node of a monoecious plant. Antheridiophores and archegoniophores belong to Marchantia, and stamens and carpels to flowering plants.
Q32AIPMT 2012 Prelims
Which one of the following is common to multicellular fungi, filamentous algae and protonema of mosses ?
Not quite — the answer is A.
Multicellular fungi, filamentous algae and the filamentous protonema of mosses all multiply vegetatively by fragmentation. They differ in life cycle and nutrition, and fungi are not members of kingdom Plantae.
Q33AIPMT 2012 Prelims
Which one of the following is a correct statement ?
Not quite — the answer is A.
Heterospory in some pteridophytes such as Selaginella and Salvinia, with the megaspore retained on the parent, is a precursor to the seed habit. Protonema and leafy stages belong to moss gametophytes, antheridiophores and archegoniophores occur in Marchantia (a liverwort), and the female gametophyte of gymnosperms is retained within the ovule, not free-living.
Q34AIPMT 2012 Prelims
Cycas and Adiantum resemble each other in having
Not quite — the answer is C.
Cycas (a gymnosperm) and Adiantum (a fern) both have motile, multiflagellate male gametes. Adiantum has no seeds, neither has vessels, and the fern lacks cambium.
Q35AIPMT 2011 Mains
Consider the following four statements whether they are correct or wrong: (A) The sporophyte in liverworts is more elaborate than that in mosses (B) Salvinia is heterosporous (C) The life-cycle in all seed bearing plants is diplontic (D) In Pinus male and female cones are borne on different trees The two wrong statements together are
Not quite — the answer is D.
The sporophyte of mosses is more elaborate than that of liverworts, so the liverwort statement is wrong, and Pinus is monoecious with male and female cones on the same tree, so that statement is wrong too. Salvinia is heterosporous and all seed plants have a diplontic life cycle, so those two are correct.
Q36AIPMT 2011 Prelims
Archegoniophore is present in
Not quite — the answer is B.
Marchantia, a liverwort, bears its sex organs on stalked branches: archegonia on archegoniophores and antheridia on antheridiophores. Funaria is a moss whose sex organs sit at branch tips without such stalks, Chara is an alga and Adiantum is a fern.
Q37AIPMT 2011 Prelims
Compared with the gametophytes of the bryophytes the gametophytes of vascular plants tend to be
Not quite — the answer is A.
Moving from bryophytes to vascular plants, the gametophyte becomes progressively reduced while the sporophyte becomes dominant. The fern prothallus is small and short-lived, and in seed plants the gametophyte is just a few cells, with sex organs reduced or absent. So both the gametophyte and its sex organs become smaller.
Q38AIPMT 2011 Prelims
The gametophyte is not an independent, free-living generation in
Not quite — the answer is A.
In gymnosperms such as Pinus, the male and female gametophytes develop within the pollen grain and ovule and stay dependent on the sporophyte. Mosses like Polytrichum, liverworts like Marchantia and ferns like Adiantum all have free-living gametophytes.
Q39AIPMT 2011 Prelims
A prokaryotic autotrophic nitrogen fixing symbiont is found in
Not quite — the answer is C.
The coralloid roots of Cycas harbour cyanobacteria such as Anabaena, which are prokaryotic, photoautotrophic and fix nitrogen. Pisum, Cicer and Alnus have nitrogen-fixing symbionts too (Rhizobium, Frankia), but these are not autotrophic.
Q40AIPMT 2010 Mains · Q35
Which one of the following is monoecious?
Not quite — the answer is C.
In Pinus both male and female cones are borne on the same tree, so it is monoecious. Cycas has separate male and female plants, Marchantia has separate male and female thalli, and date palm is also dioecious.
Q41AIPMT 2010 Prelims · Q104
Male and female gametophytes are independent and free-living in
Not quite — the answer is A.
In bryophytes such as the moss Sphagnum, the gametophyte is the dominant, free-living, photosynthetic generation. In gymnosperms (Pinus) and angiosperms (mustard, castor), the gametophytes are greatly reduced and stay inside the sporophyte's sporangia.
Q42AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q90
Which one of the following plants is monoecious?
Not quite — the answer is A.
In Pinus both male and female cones are borne on the same tree, so it is monoecious. Cycas, papaya and Marchantia have separate male and female plants (dioecious).
Q43AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q97
Phylogenetic system of classification is based on:
Not quite — the answer is D.
Phylogenetic classification groups organisms according to their evolutionary relationships, assuming members of a taxon share a common ancestor. Systems based mainly on morphology or floral characters are artificial or natural systems.
Q44AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q106
Which one of the following has haplontic life cycle?
Not quite — the answer is B.
In fungi like Ustilago the dominant phase is haploid and the only diploid stage is the zygote nucleus, which undergoes meiosis, giving a haplontic pattern. Mosses like Funaria and Polytrichum are haplo-diplontic, and wheat is diplontic.
Q45AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q108
Which one of the following is considered important in the development of seed habit?
Not quite — the answer is A.
NCERT notes that heterospory, as in Selaginella and Salvinia, with the female gametophyte retained on the parent sporophyte, is a precursor to the seed habit. A free-living gametophyte is the opposite of what happens in seed plants.
Q46AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q113
Mannitol is the stored food in:
Not quite — the answer is B.
Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) such as Fucus store food as laminarin or mannitol. Porphyra and Gracilaria are red algae storing floridean starch, and Chara is a green alga storing starch.
Q47AIPMT 2009 Prelims · Q116
Which one of the following is a vascular cryptogam?
Not quite — the answer is D.
Pteridophytes like Equisetum have xylem and phloem but no seeds or flowers, so they are vascular cryptogams. Marchantia is a bryophyte without vascular tissue, and Ginkgo and Cedrus are seed-bearing gymnosperms.
Q48AIPMT 2008 Prelims · Q101
Select one of the following of important features distinguishing Gnetum from Cycas and Pinus and showing affinities with angiosperms
Not quite — the answer is C.
Gnetum stands apart from Cycas and Pinus because its xylem contains true vessels and its female gametophyte has no archegonia, two features otherwise typical of flowering plants. Apical meristems and embryo development are common to all seed plants, so they do not separate Gnetum from the other gymnosperms.
Q49AIPMT 2008 Prelims · Q103
Which one of the following is heterosporous?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Salvinia, a water fern, produces two kinds of spores (microspores and megaspores), as NCERT notes for Selaginella and Salvinia. Equisetum, Dryopteris and Adiantum all produce a single kind of spore and are homosporous.
Q50AIPMT 2008 Prelims · Q104
In which one of the following male and female gametophytes do not have free living independent existence?
Not quite — the answer is A.
Cedrus is a gymnosperm, in which the male gametophyte (pollen) and female gametophyte (inside the ovule) are highly reduced and remain dependent on the sporophyte. In Pteris the prothallus is free-living, and in the mosses Funaria and Polytrichum the gametophyte is the dominant independent plant.
Q51AIPMT 2007 Prelims · Q124
In the prothallus of a vascular cryptogam, the antherozoids and eggs mature at different times. As a result
Not quite — the answer is C.
When male and female gametes on the same prothallus mature at different times (dichogamy), the egg cannot be fertilised by antherozoids of the same prothallus, so self-fertilisation is prevented and cross-fertilisation is favoured. This does not cause sterility or apomixis.
Q52AIPMT 2007 Prelims · Q135
If you are asked to classify the various algae into distinct groups, which of the following characters you should choose?
Not quite — the answer is D.
Algae are divided into Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae chiefly by their major pigments (chlorophyll a and b, fucoxanthin, r-phycoerythrin), which give the green, brown and red colours. Stored food and cell wall also differ, but the primary basis of grouping is pigments.
Q53AIPMT 2007 Prelims · Q154
Flagellated male gametes are present in all the three of which one of the following sets?
Not quite — the answer is C.
Riccia (bryophyte) and Dryopteris (pteridophyte) have flagellated antherozoids, and Cycas is the gymnosperm whose male gametes are motile and multiciliate. Each other set includes a plant with non-motile gametes, such as Spirogyra, Zygnema, Hydrilla or Calotropis.
Q54AIPMT 2007 Prelims · Q171
Spore dissemination in some liverworts is aided by
Not quite — the answer is D.
In liverworts such as Marchantia the capsule contains hygroscopic elaters that twist with changing humidity and scatter the spores. Peristome teeth do this job in mosses, and the indusium covers sori of ferns.
Q55AIPMT 2007 Prelims · Q189
In gymnosperms, the pollen chamber represents
Not quite — the answer is A.
In gymnosperms such as Cycas the pollen chamber is a cavity formed at the micropylar end of the nucellus of the ovule, where pollen grains land and rest after pollination before germinating. The structure in which pollen grains develop is the microsporangium (pollen sac), which is a different organ.
Q56AIPMT 2006 Prelims · Q125
Moss peat is used as a packing material for sending flowers and live plants to distant places because :
Not quite — the answer is B.
Peat from Sphagnum moss holds a lot of water (it is hygroscopic), so it keeps packed living plants moist during transport. Its use is not because it reduces transpiration or kills germs.
Q57AIPMT 2006 Prelims · Q131
Conifers differ from grasses in the :
Not quite — the answer is D.
In gymnosperms such as conifers the endosperm is the female gametophyte, formed before fertilisation and haploid. In grasses (angiosperms) the endosperm forms after double fertilisation and is triploid. Both groups make seeds from ovules and both have pollen tubes.
Q58AIPMT 2006 Prelims · Q144
In a moss the sporophyte :
Not quite — the answer is A.
The moss sporophyte (foot, seta, capsule) stays attached to the gametophyte and gets water and some nutrients from it, though its young capsule can photosynthesise; so it is partially dependent. It produces spores, not gametes, and it grows from the zygote, not from a spore.
Q59AIPMT 2005 Prelims · Q123
Match items in column-I with those in column-II. Column-I: (a) Peritrichous flagellation; (b) Living fossil; (c) Rhizophore; (d) Smallest flowering plant; (e) Largest perennial alga Column-II: 1. Ginkgo; 2. Macrocystes; 3. Escherichia coli; 4. Selaginella; 5. Wolffia Select the correct answer from the following : Codes :
Not quite — the answer is D.
E. coli has flagella all over its surface (peritrichous). Ginkgo is a living fossil. Selaginella has leafless rhizophores that bear roots. Wolffia is the smallest flowering plant, and the kelp Macrocystis is the largest perennial alga. That gives (a)-3, (b)-1, (c)-4, (d)-5, (e)-2.
Q60AIPMT 2005 Prelims · Q130
Top-shaped multiciliate male gametes and the mature seed which bears only one embryo with two cotyledons, are characteristic features of :
Not quite — the answer is D.
Cycads have large, top-shaped male gametes with many cilia, which is a primitive trait. Their seed carries one embryo with two cotyledons. Angiosperms and conifers have non-motile male gametes delivered by a pollen tube.
Q61AIPMT 2005 Prelims · Q155
Ectophloic siphonostele is found in :
Not quite — the answer is B.
An ectophloic siphonostele has a pith with phloem only outside the xylem ring; it is found in Osmunda and Equisetum. Adiantum (maidenhair fern), Marsilea and Dicksonia have amphiphloic stelar types, with phloem on both sides of the xylem.
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