Morphology of Flowering Plants – The Fruit: NEET MCQs with Answers

15 free questions on Morphology of Flowering Plants – The Fruit for NEET (UG), starting with previous-year NEET and AIPMT questions. Try each one, then tap Show answer for the answer and a short explanation.

Syllabus covered: The Fruit

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Question 1

Previous-year question
Coconut fruit is a [NEET 2017]
  1. Berry
  2. Nut
  3. Capsule
  4. Drupe
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Answer: (D) Drupe
Explanation: The coconut is a drupe — a fruit with a thin epicarp, a thick fibrous mesocarp (coir) and a hard stony endocarp enclosing a single seed.

Question 2

Previous-year question
The morphological nature of the edible part of coconut is [NEET 2017]
  1. Cotyledon
  2. Endosperm
  3. Pericarp
  4. Perisperm
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Answer: (B) Endosperm
Explanation: The white edible kernel of the coconut is the cellular ENDOSPERM, and the coconut water is the free nuclear endosperm. Both are nutritive tissue of the seed, not pericarp.

Question 3

Previous-year question
Which one of the following fruits is parthenocarpic? [AIPMT 2015]
  1. Apple
  2. Jackfruit
  3. Banana
  4. Brinjal
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Answer: (C) Banana
Explanation: The cultivated banana develops from the ovary without fertilisation, so it is a parthenocarpic and consequently seedless fruit.

Question 4

Previous-year question
The placenta and pericarp are both edible portions in [AIPMT 2014]
  1. Apple
  2. Banana
  3. Tomato
  4. Potato
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Answer: (C) Tomato
Explanation: The tomato is a berry in which the fleshy pericarp and the soft, juicy placenta bearing the seeds are both eaten. In apple the edible part is the thalamus and in banana it is the mesocarp and endocarp.

Question 5

Previous-year question
An aggregate fruit is one which develops from [AIPMT 2014]
  1. multicarpellary, syncarpous gynoecium
  2. multicarpellary, apocarpous gynoecium
  3. complete inflorescence
  4. multicarpellary, superior ovary
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Answer: (B) multicarpellary, apocarpous gynoecium
Explanation: In a multicarpellary APOCARPOUS gynoecium the carpels are free, so each carpel develops into a separate fruitlet and the group of fruitlets constitutes an aggregate fruit, as in lotus and strawberry.

Question 6

Previous-year question
The edible part of banana is the [AIPMT 2001]
  1. Epicarp
  2. Mesocarp and less developed endocarp
  3. Endocarp and less developed mesocarp
  4. Epicarp and mesocarp
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Answer: (B) Mesocarp and less developed endocarp
Explanation: Banana is a berry whose leathery epicarp forms the peel, and the edible pulp is mainly the fleshy mesocarp together with a poorly developed endocarp. Cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic, so seeds do not develop in the pulp.

Question 7

Previous-year question
Which is the correct pair for the edible part? [AIPMT 2001]
  1. Tomato — Thalamus
  2. Maize — Cotyledons
  3. Guava — Mesocarp
  4. Date palm — Pericarp
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Answer: (D) Date palm — Pericarp
Explanation: Each fruit of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is a one-seeded oblong berry whose fleshy pericarp is the edible part. In the other pairs the edible parts are wrongly named: in tomato the pericarp and placenta are eaten, in maize the endosperm, and in guava the thalamus and pericarp.
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Question 8

Previous-year question
Geocarpic fruits are produced by [AIPMT 2002]
  1. Onion
  2. Watermelon
  3. Groundnut
  4. Carrot
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Answer: (C) Groundnut
Explanation: Geocarpy is the ripening of fruits underground. In groundnut, after fertilisation the stalk (gynophore) shows post-fertilisation curvature and pushes the young fruit into the soil, where it matures — hence groundnut is described as a geocarpic fruit.

Question 9

Previous-year question
The juicy hair-like structures observed in the lemon fruit develop from the [AIPMT 2003]
  1. Mesocarp and endocarp
  2. Exocarp
  3. Mesocarp
  4. Endocarp
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Answer: (D) Endocarp
Explanation: Lemon is a hesperidium in which the endocarp lines the chambers and gives rise inwardly to numerous multicellular juicy hairs that form the edible pulp. The epicarp bears oil glands and the mesocarp forms the white spongy layer of the rind.

Question 10

Previous-year question
The edible part of mango is the [AIPMT 2004]
  1. Mesocarp
  2. Epicarp
  3. Endocarp
  4. Epidermis
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Answer: (A) Mesocarp
Explanation: Mango is a drupe developing from a monocarpellary, syncarpous, unilocular and superior ovary. Its pericarp is differentiated into a thin epicarp forming the skin, a fleshy and fibrous mesocarp which is the edible pulp, and a hard stony endocarp enclosing the seed.

Question 11

Previous-year question
The edible part of litchi is the [AIPMT 2006]
  1. Mesocarp
  2. Fleshy aril
  3. Endosperm
  4. Pericarp
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Answer: (B) Fleshy aril
Explanation: In litchi the edible white juicy portion is the aril, a fleshy outgrowth that arises from the funicle or the base of the ovule and completely surrounds the seed. It is therefore neither part of the pericarp nor of the endosperm.

Question 12

Previous-year question
The pineapple (Ananas) fruit develops from [AIPMT 2006]
  1. A multipistillate syncarpous flower
  2. A cluster of compactly borne flowers on a common axis
  3. A multilocular monocarpellary flower
  4. A unilocular polycarpellary flower
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Answer: (B) A cluster of compactly borne flowers on a common axis
Explanation: The fruit of Ananas comosus is a sorosis, a multiple fruit developing from a spike inflorescence in which flowers are compactly borne on a common fleshy axis. The succulent tepals, the flowers and the axis all fuse together so that the entire inflorescence becomes a single compact fruit.

Question 13

Previous-year question
A dry, indehiscent, single-seeded fruit formed from a bicarpellary syncarpous inferior ovary is [AIPMT 2008]
  1. Caryopsis
  2. Cypsela
  3. Berry
  4. Cremocarp
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Answer: (B) Cypsela
Explanation: Cypsela is a dry, indehiscent, single-seeded fruit that develops from a unilocular, single-ovuled inferior ovary of a bicarpellary syncarpous gynoecium with basal placentation, e.g. Helianthus. The fruit wall is formed of the pericarp and the thalamus, and it remains attached to the seed at one point.

Question 14

Previous-year question
The fleshy receptacle of the syconus of fig encloses a number of [AIPMT 2008]
  1. Achenes
  2. Samaras
  3. Berries
  4. Mericarps
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Answer: (A) Achenes
Explanation: In the syconus of fig, the flask-shaped fleshy receptacle bears numerous female flowers on its inner surface, and each of these develops into a small one-seeded achene-like fruitlet. The receptacle possesses a small apical pore guarded by scaly leaves, and it is the receptacle that is eaten.

Question 15

Previous-year question
A chambered fruit that develops from an inferior ovary and has seeds with a succulent testa is found in [AIPMT 2008]
  1. Pomegranate
  2. Orange
  3. Guava
  4. Cucumber
Show answer
Answer: (A) Pomegranate
Explanation: Pomegranate bears a balausta, a special type of pseudocarpic berry. The whole fruit is enclosed by a hard rind formed of the epicarp fused with the thalamus and part of the mesocarp, and plate-like ingrowths of the mesocarp divide it into chambers; the edible part is the bright red juicy testa of the seeds.

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