Question

Plant body of Riccia is
(a) Sporophyte
(b) Gametophyte
(c) Aquatic
(d) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: In Riccia, the haploid generation undergoes sexual reproduction to produce male and female gametes through the mitotic cell division, and hence the gametes are also haploid.

Complete answer:
Riccia belongs to liverworts and there is an alternation of generation in the life cycle of these plants. In this, a haploid gametophyte generation alternates with a diploid sporophytic generation where the gametophytic generation is dominant over the sporophytic generation and thus, the main plant body is a gametophyte. For reproduction, the main plant body of Riccia i.e. the gametophyte undergoes sexual reproduction to produce male and female gametes. Since the gametophyte is producing gametes here, gametes are produced mitotically and as a result of this, haploid gametes are produced. These haploid gametes fuse to form a diploid zygote which grows and represents the sporophyte generation of Riccia. Further, spore tetrads are produced by the sporophyte, and this time the division occurs meiotically so that again haploid spores are produced. These haploid spores germinate and form the main plant body of Riccia which is the gametophytic generation.
So, the correct answer is ‘Gametophyte’.

Note: The plant body is said to be sporophyte if it is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of that plant and it develops from the zygote that is produced when the haploid male and female gametes fuse to form a diploid zygote.