Module: | Double Fertilization & Endosperm
Q69: Consider the following statements regarding sterile reproductive organs in angiosperms:
1. A staminode is structurally a rudimentary or sterile stamen that fails to produce functional pollen grains.
2. A pistillode is a sterile, non-functional pistil often found occupying the center of structurally male (staminate) flowers.
3. The evolutionary presence of staminodes and pistillodes indicates that the plant belongs strictly to the gymnosperm lineage.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
2. A pistillode is a sterile, non-functional pistil often found occupying the center of structurally male (staminate) flowers.
3. The evolutionary presence of staminodes and pistillodes indicates that the plant belongs strictly to the gymnosperm lineage.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
✅ Correct Answer: A
The correct option is A. Statements 1 and 2 are correct, but Statement 3 is fundamentally incorrect.
In the morphological study of flowers, not all reproductive organs reach functional maturity.
A staminode is a sterile stamen; it may possess a filament, but its anther lobe is rudimentary and produces no viable pollen (commonly seen in Cassia and Salvia). Similarly, a pistillode is a vestigial female organ (pistil) found in the male flowers of monoecious or dioecious species.
Causally, these structures are evolutionary remnants indicating that the ancestral flowers of these species were likely bisexual.
Statement 3 is entirely false.
Gymnosperms do not possess flowers, stamens, or pistils at all; they possess naked sporophylls organized into cones.
Staminodes and pistillodes are exclusively structural features of the angiosperm (flowering plant) lineage.
In the morphological study of flowers, not all reproductive organs reach functional maturity.
A staminode is a sterile stamen; it may possess a filament, but its anther lobe is rudimentary and produces no viable pollen (commonly seen in Cassia and Salvia). Similarly, a pistillode is a vestigial female organ (pistil) found in the male flowers of monoecious or dioecious species.
Causally, these structures are evolutionary remnants indicating that the ancestral flowers of these species were likely bisexual.
Statement 3 is entirely false.
Gymnosperms do not possess flowers, stamens, or pistils at all; they possess naked sporophylls organized into cones.
Staminodes and pistillodes are exclusively structural features of the angiosperm (flowering plant) lineage.