Question

In Areca, the endosperm is

• A. Soft and ruminate
• B. Fleshy and ruminate
• C. Hard and smooth
• D. Hard and ruminate

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Hard and ruminate

Areca shows nuclear type of endosperm which later on gets hardened. During the development of nuclear type of endosperm, the primary endosperm mother cell divides by free nuclear divisions, and these divisions are not followed by cell wall formation. Thus, the free nuclei remain in the cytoplasm of the embryo sac.

Later on, these nuclei arrange themselves towards the periphery of the embryo sac and wall formation takes place from periphery to centre i.e. centripetal wall formation occurs and this finally leads to cellular type of endosperm.

The Endosperm of Areca is ruminate because it is irregular in surface structure.

Thus, Areca has ruminate and hard endosperm.

So, the correct answer is D.