SSC · Railway
Double fertilisation is a characteristic feature of:
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Answer: Option A — Angiosperms
Detailed Solution
Double fertilisation is a unique process found in flowering plants (angiosperms). It was discovered by the Russian botanist Sergei Navashin in 1898, in plants such as Lilium and Fritillaria.
The process takes place as follows:
After pollination, a pollen grain lands on the stigma and germinates, producing a pollen tube. The pollen tube grows down through the style and enters the ovule through a small opening called the micropyle.
The pollen tube carries two male gametes (sperm cells) and releases them into the embryo sac of the ovule.
One male gamete fuses with the egg cell (female gamete) to form a diploid zygote (2n). This is called syngamy, or true fertilisation. The zygote develops into the embryo, the future plant.
The other male gamete fuses with the two polar nuclei (or the secondary nucleus) in the central cell of the embryo sac to form a triploid (3n) primary endosperm nucleus. This is called triple fusion. It develops into the endosperm, a tissue that stores food to nourish the developing embryo.
Since two fusions (syngamy and triple fusion) take place in the same embryo sac, the process is called double fertilisation.
The endosperm provides nutrition for the embryo. In some seeds, such as wheat, rice, maize and coconut, the endosperm remains in the mature seed (endospermic or albuminous seeds). The white kernel of coconut and the coconut water are endosperm; coconut water is free-nuclear endosperm. In other seeds, such as pea, bean and groundnut, the endosperm is used up during seed development, and food is stored in the cotyledons (non-endospermic seeds).
After fertilisation, the ovule becomes the seed, and the ovary becomes the fruit.
Gymnosperms, such as pine and Cycas, have only a single fertilisation; their endosperm is haploid and is formed before fertilisation.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Gymnosperms show single fertilisation, with haploid endosperm.
- ✗Pteridophytes, such as ferns, have swimming sperm and no seeds.
- ✗Bryophytes, such as mosses, also need water for fertilisation and have no seeds.
Quick tip
Remember: Double fertilisation = angiosperms (Navashin, 1898): syngamy (zygote, 2n) + triple fusion (endosperm, 3n); coconut water = free-nuclear endosperm; gymnosperm endosperm = haploid.
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Reproduction in Plants & Animals — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Reproduction in Plants & Animals, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers reproduction: asexual methods such as fission, budding, fragmentation and vegetative propagation, sexual reproduction in flowering plants including pollination and fertilisation, and the human reproductive system. Questions often ask which method of reproduction an organism uses (binary fission in amoeba and budding in yeast and hydra), which agent pollinates which flower, and what each part of a flower does. Know the difference between self-pollination and cross-pollination, and the role of the ovary and ovule in forming fruit and seed. Practise the reproduction questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.