Question

Which of the following is not the characteristic feature of flowering plants?
(a)They include non-woody trees and shrubs
(b)They have stems, leaves, and roots
(c)They produce seeds
(d)They have finely divided leaves called fronds.

Answer 1

Hint: Angiosperms or flowering plants are known for their ability to produce flowers that contain their reproductive organs. They have certain structural characteristics that help them to be distinguished from other types of plants such as gymnosperms.

Complete answer:
The feature- They have finely divided leaves called fronds is not necessarily true for every flowering plant or angiosperms. This feature is seen mainly in the case of pteridophytes.
However, the other features such as having stem, root, and leaves and production of seeds are characteristic features of angiosperms. They are found in non-woody trees and shrubs.

Additional Information: Almost 300,000 species of plants are flower-bearing which makes the flowering plants or angiosperms the largest and most diverse group of the plant kingdom. These are mainly vascular seed plants that bear seed in an enclosed hollow ovary by fertilization. Flower encloses the ovary and contains the female and male reproductive organs. The flower turns to fruit with maturity and it is the main characteristic feature that makes a plant an angiosperm.
The general form of angiosperms includes woody trees and shrubs as well as herbaceous non-woody plants. The basic body of an angiosperm contains at least three parts- roots, stem, and leaves. These three constitute the vegetative plant body.
So the correct answer is “They have finely divided leaves called fronds”.

Note: Pteridophytes are vascular plants that are characterized by their finely divided leaves called fronds. Some examples of pteridophytes are ferns, lycophytes, etc. Other characteristic features include life cycle with alternating free gametophyte and sporophyte stage, underground or aerial stems, microphyll or megaphyll leaves, vascular plant apomorphies, and land plant plesiomorphies.