permanent-tissues-in-plants MCQs for UPSC Prelims

25 practice questions on permanent-tissues-in-plants from the Tissues in Action section of the UPSC Prelims syllabus. 25 come with a written explanation. Try the sample set below - the answer stays hidden until you ask for it.

8 Easy 12 Medium 5 Hard

Sample questions

Q1
medium
In a carrot plant, sugar made in the green leaves above the ground ends up stored in the thick orange root below it. Which tissue must have carried that sugar down to the root?
  1. A Xylem
  2. B Collenchyma
  3. C Phloem
  4. D Epidermis
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C - Phloem

Phloem is the only tissue that moves food from where it is made to where it is stored or used, including downwards into a storage root. Xylem carries water and minerals up from the root and cannot move sugar down into it. Collenchyma gives flexible support. The epidermis simply covers and protects the outer surface.
Q2
medium
The stalk of a leaf can be bent into a loop and springs back straight without snapping. Which tissue, lying in strands just below the epidermis of the stalk, gives it this property?
  1. A Parenchyma
  2. B Collenchyma
  3. C Sclerenchyma
  4. D Phloem
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B - Collenchyma

Strands of collenchyma under the epidermis combine strength with flexibility, so the stalk bends and recovers. Sclerenchyma is rigid and would make the stalk snap rather than spring back. Parenchyma is too thin-walled to give the stalk any springiness. Phloem is a food-carrying tissue and is not there to resist bending.
Q3
hard
Assertion (A): Sclerenchyma is the tissue that lets a young shoot bend in the wind and spring back. Reason (R): The cells of sclerenchyma are dead and have thick, hard walls. Choose the correct option.
  1. A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
  2. B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
  3. C A is true, but R is false
  4. D A is false, but R is true
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D - A is false, but R is true

(A) is false: bending and springing back is what collenchyma allows, and sclerenchyma is rigid. (R) is true, since sclerenchyma cells do lose their living contents and keep thick hard walls. So a true description of sclerenchyma sits beside a wrong claim about what it does, and those hard walls are exactly why it cannot be the flexible tissue.
Q4
easy
Which tissue carries the food made in the leaves to the other parts of a plant?
  1. A Sclerenchyma
  2. B Epidermis
  3. C Phloem
  4. D Xylem
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C - Phloem

Phloem is the food-conducting tissue, moving sugars from the leaves to growing buds, fruits, stems and roots. Xylem carries water and minerals from the soil upwards. Sclerenchyma is dead strengthening tissue and conducts nothing. The epidermis is a protective covering layer.
Q5
easy
In which direction does xylem mainly move its contents in a tall tree?
  1. A Downwards, from the leaves towards the roots
  2. B Upwards, from the roots towards the leaves
  3. C In no particular direction, since it only stores water
  4. D Sideways, from the centre of the trunk out to the bark
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B - Upwards, from the roots towards the leaves

Water and minerals enter at the roots and are drawn up through xylem to the leaves, where much of the water escapes as vapour. Movement from leaf to root is the direction in which food travels in phloem. Xylem tubes run lengthwise, so their flow is not sideways across the trunk. Xylem is a transport tissue, not simply a store.
Q6
medium
How does parenchyma differ from the other two simple permanent tissues of a plant?
  1. A Its cells keep dividing all through life, so it adds new cells to the plant
  2. B Its walls are thickened at the corners, so it lets a young stem bend
  3. C Its cells die as they mature, so it gives the plant its hardness
  4. D Its cells stay alive with thin walls, so it stores food and makes food rather than giving strength
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D - Its cells stay alive with thin walls, so it stores food and makes food rather than giving strength

Parenchyma keeps thin walls and living contents, which suits it to storage and, where chloroplasts are present, to photosynthesis. Cells that die at maturity and harden the plant are sclerenchyma. Walls thickened at the corners for flexible support belong to collenchyma. Cells that go on dividing are meristematic, not permanent, tissue.
Q7
easy
Which tissue carries water and dissolved minerals from the roots to the rest of a plant?
  1. A Xylem
  2. B Epidermis
  3. C Collenchyma
  4. D Phloem
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A - Xylem

Xylem is the water-conducting tissue, running as continuous tubes from the root through the stem into the leaves. Phloem carries the food made in the leaves, not water from the soil. Collenchyma gives flexible support and conducts nothing. The epidermis is a protective covering layer.
Q8
medium
Why can collenchyma support a young stem and still allow that stem to keep growing?
  1. A Its cells are dead and hollow, so they offer no resistance at all to growth
  2. B Its cells go on dividing, so the tissue simply makes more of itself as the stem grows
  3. C Its cells are alive and their walls are thickened only in places, so they can still stretch as the stem grows
  4. D Its cells have no cell wall at all, so nothing in them resists the growth of the stem
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C - Its cells are alive and their walls are thickened only in places, so they can still stretch as the stem grows

Because the thickening in collenchyma is uneven and the cells are still living, the tissue can lengthen along with the growing stem while holding it up. Collenchyma cells are living, not dead and hollow. Permanent tissues such as collenchyma no longer divide; that is the job of meristem. Every plant cell has a cell wall, and a cell without one could give no support at all.

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