154. Choose the correct descending order of major plant taxonomic ranks.
[UPPSC PCS Prelims 2024 GS Paper I]
(A) Order, class, phylum, kingdom
(B) Class, kingdom, phylum, order
(C) Class, phylum, order, kingdom
(D) Kingdom, phylum, class, order
Answer: (D) Kingdom, phylum, class, order
Explanation: The broadest of the listed ranks is kingdom, followed by phylum or division, class and order. Each successive rank includes progressively closer relatives, and lower ranks continue through family, genus and species.
153. Which plant groups are examples of cryptogams?
[SSC MTS, 05 Nov 2024 Shift 1]
(A) Gymnosperms and angiosperms
(B) Pteridophytes and angiosperms
(C) Thallophytes and gymnosperms
(D) Bryophytes and thallophytes
Answer: (D) Bryophytes and thallophytes
Explanation: Cryptogams possess inconspicuous reproductive organs and propagate by spores rather than seeds. Traditional textbook groupings include thallophytes, bryophytes and pteridophytes. Gymnosperms and angiosperms are seed-bearing phanerogams.
152. Match Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms respectively
with moss, Selaginella, pine and rose.
[SSC MTS, 23 Oct 2024 Shift 3]
(A) Moss, rose, pine, Selaginella
(B) Moss, Selaginella, pine, rose
(C) Moss, Selaginella, rose, pine
(D) Pine, moss, rose, Selaginella
Answer: (B) Moss, Selaginella, pine, rose
Explanation: Mosses are bryophytes, Selaginella is a vascular spore-bearing lycophyte, pine has unenclosed gymnosperm seeds, and rose is a flowering angiosperm. Their sequence represents distinct stages of structural and reproductive complexity.
151. Which animal phylum is particularly characterised by a segmented body?
[SSC MTS, 08 Oct 2024 Shift 3]
(A) Chordata
(B) Arthropoda
(C) Annelida
(D) Mollusca
Answer: (C) Annelida
Explanation: Annelids such as earthworms and leeches display conspicuous repeated body segments, termed metameres. Arthropods are also segmented, but in this question the phylum identified with the typical segmented-worm body plan is Annelida.
150. What structures anchor bryophytes to their substrate?
[DSSSB Jail Warder, 18 Jun 2024 Shift 2]
(A) Rhizoids
(B) Leaves
(C) Trunk
(D) True roots
Answer: (A) Rhizoids
Explanation: Most bryophytes lack the differentiated vascular roots of higher plants. Instead, thread-like rhizoids fasten the gametophyte to soil, stone or bark. Water and nutrients can also be absorbed across exposed surfaces.
149. Which division is called the amphibians of the plant kingdom?
[Bombay High Court Peon, 08 Feb 2024 Shift 4]
(A) Bryophytes
(B) Thallophyta
(C) Gymnosperms
(D) Pteridophytes
Answer: (A) Bryophytes
Explanation: Bryophytes are terrestrial plants yet require external water for sexual fertilisation because their motile sperm must reach an egg. This dependence explains the amphibian analogy. Mosses and liverworts belong to the group.
148. What are nonvascular land plants traditionally called?
[CUET PG Life Sciences 2024]
(A) Pteridophytes
(B) Gymnosperms
(C) Angiosperms
(D) Bryophytes
Answer: (D) Bryophytes
Explanation: Bryophytes lack conducting tissues specialised as xylem and phloem. Their simple architecture limits height and favours moist environments. Ferns and seed plants are vascular, with tissue systems that move water and organic substances efficiently.
147. Which grouping correctly matches three gymnosperms?
[NEET UG 2024 Re-examination, 23 Jun 2024]
(A) Cedrus, Pinus and Sequoia
(B) Wolffia, Eucalyptus and Sequoia
(C) Polytrichum, Polysiphonia and Sphagnum
(D) Equisetum, Ginkgo and Adiantum
Answer: (A) Cedrus, Pinus and Sequoia
Explanation: Cedrus, Pinus and Sequoia are conifers that form naked seeds. Wolffia and Eucalyptus are flowering plants, Sphagnum is a bryophyte, Polysiphonia a red alga, and Adiantum and Equisetum are pteridophytes.
146. Which five kingdoms occur in Whittaker’s system?
[OSSSC Forest Guard, 24 Apr 2024 Shift 1]
(A) Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia
(B) Viruses, lichens, fungi, plants, animals
(C) Virae, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia
(D) Bacterae, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia
Answer: (A) Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia
Explanation: Whittaker separated prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes, fungi, plants and animals into five kingdoms. Viruses are acellular and are not counted among these cellular kingdoms. Lichens combine organisms from separate kingdoms.
145. Who proposed the five-kingdom scheme of classification in 1969?
[OSSSC Forest Guard, 05 May 2024 Shift 2]
(A) R. H. Whittaker
(B) David Philip
(C) William Harvey
(D) William Jones
Answer: (A) R. H. Whittaker
Explanation: Robert H. Whittaker proposed the influential five-kingdom framework in 1969. It considered cellular organisation, nutrition, reproduction and evolutionary relationships, separating fungi from plants and distinguishing prokaryotes from protists.
