Question

All the following are the adaptations of land plants except
A. Protection of the embryo from drying out
B. Waxy cuticle on leaves to prevent drying out
C. Waxy cuticle on roots to prevent drying out
D. Vascular system (in most plants) to move water internally

Answer 1

Hint: An organism's place of residence is called its habitat. Some changes in the organism's environment led to changes in itself for survival. An evolutionary phase in which an organism becomes more adaptive to changes in its habitat is called adaptation.

Complete answer: Adaptation means a characteristic that allows a plant or an animal to live. This is one of the fundamental biological phenomena. This is attributable to natural selections that have taken place over many centuries.
Adaptation in aquatic plants has a waxy coating on the leaves in which chlorophyll is only confined to the green on the top surface. There are no roots and hair from the root so there is no need to consume water; they have air pockets on leaves to absorb oxygen from water. Land plants have a vascular system internally that involves xylem and phloem for water and food movement. By having membranes that help protect the embryo, the embryo is protected from drying out. A waxy cuticle is on the leaves and it prevents drying out as a buffer against excessive water loss caused by transpiration. The roots do not produce a waxy cuticle. It will be very difficult to absorb water if there is a waxy cuticle on the root.
Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Note: Plants often adapt according to their food, as sunflowers bend toward the sun, and insectivorous plants like flytrap eat insects to satisfy their nitrogen deficiency. In humid rainforests, epiphytes grow. You do not have roots so you don't grow on the earth. But for photosynthesis, they do need water, and this need is met by air-water absorption. However, many epiphytes formed modified leaves or other structures in order to capture rainwater, fog, or dew.