Question

Plant growing in extremely cold soils are
A. Halophytes
B. Psammophytes
C. Oxylophyte
D. Psychrophytes.

Answer 1

Hint:- The phenomenon by which organisms gain or lose some specific characteristics that make them survive in their habitat is called adaptation and the evolved features are known as the adaptive features. Adaptation is the essential biological activity which prevents the organism from extinction.

Complete answer:
Like other organisms, plants also adapted certain characteristics to sustain the environment with their adverse conditions.
In the given question,

Halophytes: The plants which are capable of tolerating salt are known as halophytes. Halophytes can grow both in water and soil. Some common habitats of the halophytes are desert, seahorses, coastal wetlands, mangrove swamps, etc. Example: Spartina alterniflora. Halophytes are categorized into three groups Aqua-halines, Terrestro- halines, and Aero-halines.

Psammophytes: The plants which can grow in the sand are known as psammophytes. These plants are commonly found in deserts. These plants have adapted multiple features that allow them to survive in the extreme environment of the deserts. The adaptation involves the production of specialized roots on the trunks which are buried in the sand. Thus they can be stuck within the sand.
Oxylophyte: Those plants which can live in the acidic soil are called oxylophyte. The common examples of oxylophyte are bog mosses, crowberry, cotton grass, etc.

Psychrophytes: Psychrophytes are those plants that can tolerate and survive in extreme cold soil. The very common habitat of psychrophiles is the tundra region. Example: rupicolous lichen.

So, the correct option is D. Psychrophytes.

Note:- Psychrophytes include various forms of lives like shrubs, subshrub, undershrubs, dwarf, pulvinate, etc. Psychrophytes show vegetative reproduction. The plant roots have evolved in such a way that makes it functional in 0 C. Apart from root adaptation, the plants are capable of producing antifreeze proteins that prevent the ice crystal formation within the cells of the plants in extreme cold.