Question

In barley stem, vascular bundles are

• A. closed and scattered
• B. open and in a ring
• C. closed and radial
• D. open and scattered

Answer 1

The correct option is A closed and scattered

Barley is a monocot cereal plant. In monocots, the vascular bundles lie scattered in large numbers throughout the ground tissue. This condition is referred to as ‘atactostele’. Here, the vascular bundles are not arranged in a ring like fashion like in dicots. Generally, the larger vascular bundles are located towards the centre of the stem while smaller bundles are arranged towards the periphery. Cambium is absent in monocot which makes them ‘closed’ for secondary growth.


In dicots, the vascular bundles are open as they have cambium between the xylem and the phloem. These vascular bundles are arranged in a ring.