Pentamerous, actinomorphic flowers, bicarpellary ovary with oblique septa, and fruit a capsule or berry, are characteristic features of -
A
Asteraceae
B
Brassicaceae
C
Solanaceae
D
Liliaceae
The answer is C.
Solution
Solanaceae is commonly called the potato family. Its flowers are bisexual, actinomorphic and pentamerous: five united sepals, five united petals and five epipetalous stamens. The gynoecium is bicarpellary and syncarpous, with a superior, bilocular ovary; the placenta is swollen and bears many ovules in axile placentation. A special feature is that the ovary is obliquely placed, so the septum is oblique. The fruit is a berry (tomato, brinjal) or a capsule (Datura, tobacco). Brassicaceae has tetramerous flowers and a siliqua, Liliaceae has trimerous flowers, and Asteraceae has a head inflorescence with a cypsela fruit. So these are the characteristic features of Solanaceae.
ConceptFloral characters of Solanaceae
Description of families in past papers
4 questions from this chapter have appeared across 4 exam years.