Question

How many plants among Indigofera, Sesbania, Salvinia, Allium, Aloe, Mustard, Groundnut, Radish, Gram and Turnip have stamens with different lengths in their flowers?
A. Six
B. Three
C. Four
D. Five

Answer 1

We have learnt that the reproductive part of a flower is called a stamen. At a stamen’s tip is another which is a long, slender filament like structure. Stamens are the pollen containing parts. Differences in stamen length are reported among different plants. The stamen length also depends on self-pollination and cross-pollination phenomena.

Complete answer:
- The length of stamen is not the same in each and every plant. It depends from a family to family.
- Indigofera, Sesbania, Groundnut and Gram belong to the family Fabaceae. Salvinia belongs to the Lamiaceae family. Allium and Aloe are of the family of Liliaceae.
- The Mustard, Radish and Turnip belong to the Brassicaceae family.
- Now, the families that have differences in stamen length in their flowers are Lamiaceae and Brassicaceae. Therefore out of all the options given above, the plants belonging to these two families are Salvinia, Mustard, Gram and Radish. So the count is four.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: The different stamen lengths have different terms. For example, Didymous means the stamens are in two equal pairs. Didynamous is when stamens are in two unequal pairs as seen in the Lamiaceae family. The last one is Tetradynamous where there are stamens in two groups of four long and short. There is an advantage of having large stamens along with long filaments that we see hanging out of the flowers. There will be efficient and more chances of pollination events. Therefore the birds and insects would be able to easily carry out pollination.