Reproduction (Plants) – Pollination-types: NEET MCQs with Answers

15 free questions on Reproduction (Plants) – Pollination-types 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: Pollination-types, agencies and examples

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Question 1

Previous-year question
Pollination occurs in [AIPMT 1991]
  1. bryophytes and angiosperms
  2. pteridophytes and angiosperms
  3. angiosperms and gymnosperms
  4. angiosperms and fungi
Show answer
Answer: (C) angiosperms and gymnosperms
Explanation: Pollination — the transfer of pollen grains from the anther or microsporangium to the stigma or micropyle — is a feature of seed plants. It occurs in both angiosperms and gymnosperms, but not in bryophytes, pteridophytes or fungi, which lack pollen grains.

Question 2

Previous-year question
Chief pollinators of agricultural crops are [AIPMT 1994]
  1. butterflies
  2. bees
  3. moths
  4. beetles
Show answer
Answer: (B) bees
Explanation: Bees, especially honeybees, are the most important pollinators of agricultural crops and are estimated to pollinate about 80% of all insect-pollinated flowers.

Question 3

Previous-year question
Flowers showing ornithophily show few characteristic like [AIPMT 1999]
  1. blue flower with nectaries at base of corolla
  2. red sweet scented flower with nectaries
  3. bright red flower into thick inflorescence
  4. white flowers with fragrance
Show answer
Answer: (C) bright red flower into thick inflorescence
Explanation: Bird-pollinated flowers are usually large, sturdy, brightly coloured (often red) and produce copious nectar. Because birds have a poor sense of smell, these flowers are generally odourless, so being sweet-scented is not a feature of ornithophily.

Question 4

Previous-year question
Anemophily type of pollination is found in [AIPMT 2001]
  1. Salvia
  2. bottle brush
  3. Vallisneria
  4. coconut
Show answer
Answer: (D) coconut
Explanation: Coconut is pollinated through air, i.e. by anemophily. Salvia is entomophilous (insect-pollinated), bottle brush (Callistemon) is ornithophilous (bird-pollinated) and Vallisneria is hydrophilous (water-pollinated).

Question 5

Previous-year question
Wind pollinated flowers are [AIPMT 2010]
  1. small, brightly coloured, producing large number of pollen grains
  2. small, producing large number of dry pollen grains
  3. large, producing abundant nectar and pollen
  4. small, producing nectar and dry pollen
Show answer
Answer: (B) small, producing large number of dry pollen grains
Explanation: Anemophilous flowers are small, inconspicuous and neither coloured nor scented, and they secrete no nectar. Their principal adaptation is production of enormous numbers of light, dry, powdery and non-sticky pollen grains, e.g. Zea mays, Cannabis, Pinus.

Question 6

Previous-year question
In which one of the following pollination is autogamous? [AIPMT 2011]
  1. Xenogamy
  2. Chasmogamy
  3. Cleistogamy
  4. Geitonogamy
Show answer
Answer: (C) Cleistogamy
Explanation: Cleistogamous flowers never open; the anthers dehisce within the closed bud and pollen is deposited directly on the stigma of the same flower. This is self-pollination in the strict sense, i.e. autogamy.

Question 7

Previous-year question
Wind pollination is common in [AIPMT 2011]
  1. lilies
  2. grasses
  3. orchids
  4. legumes
Show answer
Answer: (B) grasses
Explanation: Anemophily is very common in grasses (Poaceae). Their flowers are small and inconspicuous with long versatile stamens and feathery stigmas, and they produce large amounts of dry, powdery, non-sticky pollen, e.g. maize, wheat, sugarcane and bamboo.
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Question 8

Previous-year question
Even in absence of pollinating agents seed-setting is assured in [AIPMT 2012]
  1. Commelina
  2. Zostera
  3. Salvia
  4. fig
Show answer
Answer: (A) Commelina
Explanation: Commelina benghalensis bears two kinds of flowers — aerial chasmogamous flowers and underground cleistogamous flowers. The cleistogamous flowers never open and are self-pollinated, so seed set is guaranteed even if no pollinator visits the plant.

Question 9

Previous-year question
Plants with ovaries having only one or a few ovules, are generally pollinated by [AIPMT 2012]
  1. bees
  2. butterflies
  3. birds
  4. wind
Show answer
Answer: (D) wind
Explanation: Anemophilous plants characteristically have ovaries with a single ovule or very few ovules and produce enormous quantities of light pollen. Producing many single-ovuled flowers increases the probability that each ovule is successfully pollinated by chance wind transfer.

Question 10

Previous-year question
Animal vectors are required for pollination in [NEET 2013]
  1. Vallisneria
  2. mulberry
  3. cucumber
  4. maize
Show answer
Answer: (C) cucumber
Explanation: Cucumber is entomophilous and is pollinated mainly by bees. Mulberry and maize are wind-pollinated (anemophilous) and Vallisneria is water-pollinated (hydrophilous).

Question 11

Previous-year question
Which one of the following statements is correct? [Karnataka NEET 2013]
  1. Cleistogamous flowers are always autogamous
  2. Xenogamy occurs only by wind pollination
  3. Chasmogamous flowers do not open at all
  4. Geitonogamy involves the pollen and stigma of flowers of different plants
Show answer
Answer: (A) Cleistogamous flowers are always autogamous
Explanation: Cleistogamous flowers remain permanently closed, so only self-pollination is possible and they are invariably autogamous. Xenogamy can occur by wind, water, insects or animals; chasmogamous flowers do open and expose their anthers and stigma; and geitonogamy involves two flowers of the same plant.

Question 12

Previous-year question
Advantage of cleistogamy is [NEET 2013]
  1. higher genetic variability
  2. more vigorous offspring
  3. no dependence on pollinators
  4. vivipary
Show answer
Answer: (C) no dependence on pollinators
Explanation: In cleistogamous flowers the anthers dehisce inside the closed bud and the pollen falls directly on the stigma. Seed set is therefore assured even when pollinating agents are completely absent, though at the cost of genetic variability.

Question 13

Previous-year question
Geitonogamy involves [AIPMT 2014, 2010, 1994]
  1. fertilisation of a flower by the pollen from another flower of the same plant
  2. fertilisation of a flower by the pollen from the same flower
  3. fertilisation of a flower by the pollen from a flower of another plant in the same population
  4. fertilisation of a flower by the pollen from a flower of another plant belonging to a distant population
Show answer
Answer: (A) fertilisation of a flower by the pollen from another flower of the same plant
Explanation: Geitonogamy is the transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower borne on the same plant. Pollination within the same flower is autogamy and between different plants is xenogamy.

Question 14

Previous-year question
Which one of the following statements is not true? [AIPMT 2015 Cancelled]
  1. The flowers pollinated by flies and bats secrete foul odour to attract them
  2. Honey is made by bees by digesting pollen collected from flowers
  3. Pollen grains are rich in nutrients and they are used in the form of tablets and syrups
  4. Pollen grains of some plants cause severe allergies and bronchial afflictions in some people
Show answer
Answer: (B) Honey is made by bees by digesting pollen collected from flowers
Explanation: Honey is made from nectar, not pollen. Bees collect nectar, partially digest it by regurgitation and enzymatic transformation, and concentrate it by evaporation into honey. The remaining three statements are correct.

Question 15

Previous-year question
Which one of the following may require pollinators, but is genetically similar to autogamy? [AIPMT 2015 Cancelled]
  1. Apogamy
  2. Cleistogamy
  3. Geitonogamy
  4. Xenogamy
Show answer
Answer: (C) Geitonogamy
Explanation: Geitonogamy is transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower of the same plant. A pollinating agent is needed to move the pollen, so it is functionally cross-pollination, but since both flowers have the same genotype it is genetically equivalent to autogamy.

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