Question

The stem in grasses and coriander is-
A) Woody
B) Glabrous
C) Fistula
D) Herbaceous

Answer 1

Hint:Grasses and coriander are herbaceous plants. Herbs do not have woody stems, they rather have soft stems.

Complete Answer:
A stem is a main axis of a vascular plant along with roots. The leaves, flowers and fruits appear on the stem. It transports water and dissolved substances throughout the plant body through the xylem and phloem. Apart from this, they store nutrients, and also produce new living tissue. The stem is divided into nodes which hold leaves along with buds which grow into branches and internodes which divide two consecutive nodes. In herbaceous plants, the stem is soft and flexible and is typically found on annual plants. Most vegetable plants that grow for just one season have herbaceous stems. Herbaceous stems do have vascular bundles, vascular bundles including xylem and phloem, are arranged in a circle around the central core. The core is composed of spongy tissue including parenchyma cells, and is called the pith. The vascular bundles are surrounded by cortex on the outside, the thickness of cortex varies from species to species. All these structures are covered by an epidermis, which is the outermost layer of stem.

Additional information:
Woody stems- Woody stems appear in woody plants. In woody plants, wood is produced as its structural tissue. Hard stem wood contains vascular bundles. New layers of woody tissue adds up each year, thereby increasing the diameter of stem
Fistula stem- these stems are solid at the nodes but their internodes remain hollow. Example- bamboo

Thus, the correct answer is D. Herbaceous.

Note:Stems are basically of three types; underground; subaerial, and aerial and further classified as rhizome, tuber, bulb, runner, offset, stalon, sucker, bulbil, thorn, etc.