Question

The statements given below describe certain features that are observed in the pistil of flowers.
         (i) Pistil may have many carpels.
         (ii) Each carpel may have more than one ovule.
         (iii) Each carpel has only one ovule.
         (iv) Pistil has only one carpel.
Choose the statements that are true from the option below:
        (A) (i) and (ii)
        (B) (i) and (iii)
        (C) (ii) and (iv)
        (D) (iii) and (iv)

Answer 1

Hint: The above-mentioned terms ‘pistil’ and ‘carpel’ are related to the female reproductive system called gynoecium. They are important structures, as it helps the flower in pollination and fertilization and, it is as essential as the male part, i.e. androecium.

Complete step by step answer: Pistil is the female reproductive part of a flower. The pistil that is centrally located typically consists of a swollen base; the ovary which contains potential seeds or ovules, a stalk, or a style arising from the ovary and a pollen-receptive tip, i.e. the stigma that is variously shaped and often sticky. Each pistil is constructed from one to many enrolled leaflike structures, or carpels, each of which encloses one or more ovules. The carpel is a single megasporophyll or modified seed-bearing leaf. A pistil then may be composed of one carpel (simple pistil), as in the sweet pea, or two or more carpels (compound pistil) partially or completely joined, as in the mustard (two carpels) and lily (three carpels). A flower that contains separate pistils is termed as ‘apocarpous’. If it contains a single pistil with two or more united carpels, it is ‘Syncarpous’. The pistil has more than one carpel called ‘bicarpellary’ and if one, it is called ‘monocarpellary'.In pollination, compatible pollen grains land on the stigma and then germinate, forming a pollen tube. The pollen tube grows down through the tissue of the style to deposit sperm for the fertilization of the ovules into the ovary. Pistils in the collective sense form the gynoecium, in distinction to the male reproductive parts, or androecium.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note: ‘Carpels’ are the basic units of the gynoecium and may be free (distinct) or fused (connate). The term ‘pistil’ is used in a similar manner to carpel. In most flowers, the carpels are fused together to form a pistil.