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

15 free questions on Morphology of Flowering Plants – The Root 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.

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Question 1

Previous-year question
In Rhizophora, the roots that grow vertically upward (negatively geotropic) are known as: [NEET 2024 (Sawaimadhopur)]
  1. Prop roots
  2. Stilt roots
  3. Storage roots
  4. Pneumatophores
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Answer: (D) Pneumatophores
Explanation: In plants growing in swampy areas such as Rhizophora, many roots come out of the ground and grow vertically upwards; these pneumatophores help to get oxygen for respiration. Prop roots (banyan) and stilt roots (maize, sugarcane) are supporting roots, and storage roots store food.

Question 2

Previous-year question
The root system shown in the figure given below belongs to: [Re-NEET 2021]
Figure for question 2
  1. Triticum
  2. Mango
  3. Banyan
  4. Brassica
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Answer: (A) Triticum
Explanation: The figure shows a fibrous root system, in which the short-lived primary root is replaced by a large number of roots arising from the base of the stem; this is characteristic of monocots such as wheat (Triticum). Mango and Brassica are dicots with a tap root system, and banyan is known for its prop roots.

Question 3

Previous-year question
Sweet potato is a modified [NEET 2018]
  1. stem
  2. adventitious root
  3. rhizome
  4. tap root
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Answer: (B) adventitious root
Explanation: In sweet potato, adventitious roots become swollen with stored food to form tuberous roots. They bear no nodes, internodes or buds, which distinguishes them from the modified stem of potato.

Question 4

Previous-year question
Pneumatophores occur in [NEET 2018]
  1. halophytes
  2. free-floating hydrophytes
  3. submerged hydrophytes
  4. carnivorous plants
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Answer: (A) halophytes
Explanation: Pneumatophores are the breathing roots of halophytic mangrove plants growing in waterlogged saline soil, where the soil oxygen is insufficient for the submerged root system.

Question 5

Previous-year question
Plants which produce characteristic pneumatophores and show vivipary belong to [NEET 2017]
  1. halophytes
  2. psammophytes
  3. hydrophytes
  4. mesophytes
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Answer: (A) halophytes
Explanation: Mangroves such as Rhizophora are halophytes of saline marshy soils. They produce negatively geotropic pneumatophores for gaseous exchange and show vivipary, in which the seed germinates while still attached to the parent plant.

Question 6

Previous-year question
Vivipary is a characteristic feature of [AIPMT 1990]
  1. Mesophytes
  2. Xerophytes
  3. Hygrophytes
  4. Halophytes
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Answer: (D) Halophytes
Explanation: Vivipary is a special mode of seed germination shown by halophytes (mangroves) such as Rhizophora, in which the seed germinates inside the fruit while it is still attached to the parent plant. The embryo derives nourishment from the parent, and the seedling later drops and fixes itself in the soft mud.

Question 7

Previous-year question
Buttress roots occur in [AIPMT 1995]
  1. Sorghum
  2. Banyan
  3. Terminalia
  4. Pandanus
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Answer: (C) Terminalia
Explanation: Buttress roots are irregular, broad, plank-like woody outgrowths that arise from the basal part of the trunk of tall trees and radiate into the soil, e.g. Terminalia, Ficus religiosa and Bombax. They provide mechanical support against toppling. Banyan bears prop roots, Pandanus bears stilt roots and Sorghum bears stilt roots at the lower nodes.
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Question 8

Previous-year question
Clinging roots are borne by [AIPMT 1999]
  1. Trapa
  2. Orchid
  3. Screw pine
  4. Podostemon
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Answer: (B) Orchid
Explanation: Epiphytic orchids produce clinging (climbing) adventitious roots from the nodes or leaf axils of the stem, which fix the plant firmly to the supporting tree trunk. Screw pine (Pandanus) bears stilt roots, while Trapa and Podostemon are aquatic plants with other root modifications.

Question 9

Previous-year question
Pneumatophores are a characteristic feature of plants growing in [AIPMT 2000]
  1. Saline soils
  2. Sandy soils
  3. Marshy places and salt lakes
  4. Dry land regions
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Answer: (C) Marshy places and salt lakes
Explanation: Pneumatophores develop in plants of marshy, water-logged and saline habitats such as tidal swamps and salt lakes, where the soil is deficient in oxygen. These negatively geotropic roots come above the mud and take up oxygen through lenticels.

Question 10

Previous-year question
The roots of which of the following plants contain an oxygen-binding pigment? [AIPMT 2001]
  1. Carrot
  2. Soyabean
  3. Mustard
  4. Radish
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Answer: (B) Soyabean
Explanation: The root nodules of leguminous plants such as soyabean contain leghaemoglobin, a red, iron-containing oxygen-binding protein present in the cytoplasm of the infected nodule cells. It maintains a very low free-oxygen concentration so that the oxygen-sensitive enzyme nitrogenase can function, while still supplying oxygen to the respiring bacteroids.

Question 11

Previous-year question
Sweet potato is homologous to [AIPMT 2011]
  1. Potato
  2. Colocasia
  3. Ginger
  4. Turnip
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Answer: (D) Turnip
Explanation: Homologous organs have the same fundamental origin and structure although they may differ in function. Both sweet potato and turnip are modified roots that have become fleshy for food storage, hence they are homologous. Potato, Colocasia and ginger are all modified underground stems and are therefore analogous to sweet potato, not homologous.

Question 12

Previous-year question
In which of the following plants do the roots play an insignificant role in water absorption? [AIPMT 2015]
  1. Sunflower
  2. Pistia
  3. Pea
  4. Wheat
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Answer: (B) Pistia
Explanation: Pistia is a free-floating hydrophyte. Its entire submerged surface is thin-walled and permeable, so water and dissolved minerals are absorbed over the whole body surface; the roots serve mainly for balancing the plant. In terrestrial plants such as sunflower, pea and wheat, roots are the principal absorbing organs.

Question 13

Previous-year question
Plants that develop characteristic pneumatophores and also exhibit vivipary are classified as [NEET 2017]
  1. Mesophytes
  2. Halophytes
  3. Psammophytes
  4. Hydrophytes
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Answer: (B) Halophytes
Explanation: Both features are adaptations to saline marshy habitats. Halophytes such as Rhizophora produce negatively geotropic breathing roots (pneumatophores) for respiration and show vivipary, in which the seed germinates while still attached to the parent plant, so that the seedling is not lost in the tidal water.

Question 14

Previous-year question
Sweet potato is an example of a modified [NEET 2018]
  1. Stem
  2. Adventitious root
  3. Tap root
  4. Rhizome
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Answer: (B) Adventitious root
Explanation: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a swollen tuberous adventitious root that stores food. It arises from the nodes of the trailing stem and has no definite shape. Potato, in contrast, is a stem tuber and carrot is a modified tap root.

Question 15

Previous-year question
Pneumatophores are met with in [NEET 2018]
  1. Carnivorous plants
  2. Free-floating hydrophytes
  3. Halophytes
  4. Submerged hydrophytes
Show answer
Answer: (C) Halophytes
Explanation: Halophytes such as mangroves (Rhizophora) grow in saline, water-logged swampy soil where oxygen availability is very poor. Some of their roots grow vertically upward out of the soil (negatively geotropic) and bear lenticels through which gaseous exchange occurs; such breathing roots are called pneumatophores.

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