Plants Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The correct statements are A and D.

A is true: the NCERT Class 5 EVS chapter 'Whose Forests?' tells of Suryamani, who set up a centre called Torang, which means forest in the Kuduk language. D is true: the same chapter says that about three-fourths of the people in Mizoram are linked to the forests.

B is false because the land lottery belongs to Mizoram, not Jharkhand: in Mizoram the Village Council holds a lottery to decide which family farms how much land. C is false in its wording: the law is the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, usually called the Forest Rights Act, not a 'Right to Forest Act, 2007'. Every option except 'A and D' contains B or C.

Answer: A

The main functions of the stem are only B and C.

The stem holds the plant upright and supports its branches, leaves, flowers and fruits (B), and it carries water and minerals from the roots to the other parts of the plant and the food made in the leaves to the rest of the plant (C).

Producing food is the main function of the leaves, which carry out photosynthesis. Some stems store food, such as the potato or sugarcane, but that is a special modification, not a main function of the stem, so options with A are wrong.

Answer: B

The Desert Oak is found in Australia.

The Desert Oak is a tree of the deserts of central Australia. Its roots go very deep to reach underground water, which lets it survive in the dry land, and it appears in the EVS textbook as an example of a desert plant.

It is not a tree of Abu Dhabi, the UAE or the Thar desert of Rajasthan, which have their own drought-adapted plants such as the khejri.

Answer: A

The correct statements are A and B only.

Nepenthes, the pitcher plant, grows in South-East Asia including Indonesia, in northern Australia, and in India in Meghalaya (A). Its leaf forms a pitcher-shaped trap with a lid-like flap over the mouth (B).

Statement C is wrong because pitcher plants catch not only small insects but sometimes larger animals such as spiders and small frogs. Statement D is wrong because they attract prey with colour and sweet nectar, not with sound, so options containing C or D are incorrect.

Answer: C

The correct statements are C, D and A.

Elephants rest little and sleep only 2 to 4 hours a day (A), love to play in mud and water, which keeps their skin cool (C), and live in herds in which the oldest female leads and makes decisions (D).

The key treats statement B as the incorrect one: the figure usually taught is that an adult elephant eats more than 100 kg of leaves and twigs a day, so 'more than 200 kg' overstates it. Every option containing B is therefore rejected.

Answer: D

The correct statements are A, B and D.

The pitcher plant (Nepenthes) has leaves shaped into a pitcher with a lid-like leaf over the mouth (A). It gives off a smell that attracts insects (B). Insects, and in larger species even frogs and small mammals such as mice, slip on the rim into the pitcher, cannot climb out, and are digested by the fluid inside (D).

Statement C is false. Pitcher plants grow in warm, wet places, in India mainly in Meghalaya and the north-east, not in cold deserts like Ladakh. So options including C, and those leaving out B or D, are wrong.

Answer: B

The tree is the Khejadi tree.

NCERT's Class 4 EVS book, in the story of Amrita of Khejadli village near Jodhpur, describes the Khejadi (khejri, Prosopis cineraria) as a tree found mainly in desert areas that can grow without much water, whose bark is used for making medicines and whose wood is not affected by insects. Every clue in the riddle comes from that description.

The date palm grows in deserts but only where there is groundwater, as at oases, and is known for its fruit. Acacia and desert oak are drought-tolerant trees, but the insect-proof wood and medicinal bark are the textbook's description of the Khejadi.

Answer: D

The functions of roots are A, C and D.

Roots anchor the plant firmly in the soil and give it support (A). They absorb water and dissolved minerals from the soil (D). Many roots also store food: carrot, radish, beetroot and sweet potato are swollen storage roots (C).

Roots do not provide humus (B). Humus is the dark organic matter in soil formed when dead plants and animals decay; it enriches the soil, but roots do not make it. Every option that includes B is therefore wrong, and 'C and D only' leaves out support.

Answer: A

Both (A) and (B) are true.

Xylem is the plant tissue that carries water and dissolved minerals upward from the roots to the stem, leaves and other parts. Phloem carries the food made in the leaves during photosynthesis, mainly sugars, to all parts of the plant, a process called translocation.

Both statements describe the two transport tissues correctly, so the options calling either one false are wrong.