NEET (UG) · Botany, Class 11
Anatomy of Flowering Plants: NEET PYQ, 2018–2026
Anatomy of Flowering Plants (Botany, Class 11) has been asked 16 times in the 7 NEET papers from 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026: about 2.3 questions a paper, 5% of all Botany questions. It is the 11th most-asked of 17 Botany chapters. NEET 2026 had 0 from it. Last checked 28 October 2026.
Questions per paper
Year by year.
| Year | Questions |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2024 | 3 |
| 2025 | 1 |
| 2026 | 0 |
From 2021 to 2024 each paper had 200 questions (a Section B with a choice); the others had 180.
Inside the chapter
Topics asked most.
- Anatomy of root, stem and leaf7
- Tissue systems5
- Secondary growth4
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10 Anatomy of Flowering Plants questions to practise.
Our own questions, written in the NEET pattern and checked, each with an explanation. Pick an option to see the answer.
Q1 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
All the tissues of a plant organ other than the epidermis and the vascular bundles together make up the:
Answer: (D)
There are three tissue systems: epidermal, ground (fundamental) and vascular. All tissues except the epidermis and the vascular bundles form the ground tissue, which consists of simple tissues such as parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma; in leaves it is the mesophyll.
Q2 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
In a dorsiventral leaf, which description correctly contrasts palisade parenchyma with spongy parenchyma?
Answer: (A)
The mesophyll of a dorsiventral leaf is differentiated into two layers. The palisade parenchyma lies on the upper side below the epidermis. Its cells are elongated, closely packed with few intercellular spaces, and richly supplied with chloroplasts, which suits the high light there. The spongy parenchyma lies below, with irregular cells, many air spaces, and fewer chloroplasts, which aids gas exchange toward the stomata on the lower side.
Q3 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
The phloem of gymnosperms has:
Answer: (B)
The phloem of angiosperms is made of sieve tube elements, companion cells, phloem parenchyma and phloem fibres. Gymnosperms have albuminous cells and sieve cells, and lack sieve tubes and companion cells.
Q4 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
In a dicot root, the protoxylem lies towards the periphery of the stele and the metaxylem lies towards the centre. This arrangement of xylem is called:
Answer: (A)
In roots, xylem maturation proceeds from the periphery inward, so the protoxylem is on the outside. Such an arrangement is called exarch. Stems show the reverse, endarch arrangement, with protoxylem facing the pith.
Q5 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
In the secondary phloem of a dicot stem, which cell type lacks a nucleus at maturity and is functionally paired with a companion cell derived from the same mother cell?
Answer: (A)
Principle: sieve tube elements are conducting cells of phloem that lose their nucleus and most organelles at maturity. They remain functional because each is linked to a companion cell, formed from the same mother cell, which carries out metabolic functions for both. Applying this, the correct answer is the sieve tube element. Phloem fibres are dead but are not paired with companion cells, so the pairing condition in the stem excludes them.
Q6 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
Which statement correctly describes the secondary phloem of gymnosperms compared with that of dicotyledonous angiosperms?
Answer: (A)
Principle: secondary phloem conducts sugars through sieve elements. In angiosperms, sieve tubes are associated with companion cells that support them metabolically. In gymnosperms, the conducting cells are sieve cells, and companion cells are absent; albuminous cells play a supporting role instead. So gymnosperm phloem lacks companion cells, and its sieve cells are the conducting elements. Sugar conduction in both groups requires sieve elements.
Q7 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
Which part of a woody dicot stem conducts water and minerals from roots to leaves?
Answer: (A)
Secondary xylem is divided into sapwood, the outer functional region with active xylem elements, and heartwood, the inner older region which no longer conducts. Water and minerals move upward through sapwood, while heartwood provides strength.
Q8 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
In the transverse section of a young dicot stem, the pericycle is seen as:
Answer: (B)
In the dicot stem the pericycle lies on the inner side of the endodermis and above the phloem, in the form of semi-lunar patches of sclerenchyma. In the dicot root, by contrast, it is a few layers of thick-walled parenchymatous cells next to the endodermis.
Q9 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
In the root of a dicot plant, certain endodermal cells are thin-walled and lack the suberised Casparian strip. Where are these passage cells located, and what is their function?
Answer: (A)
Principle: the endodermis of a root has Casparian strips of suberin, which force water and solutes to pass through the living protoplast of endodermal cells. Passage cells are the exceptions: they are thin-walled, lack the strip in the relevant region, and lie opposite the protoxylem poles. Applying this, they give water and minerals a route into the xylem, located at the protoxylem positions and not at the phloem or in the pericycle.
Q10 · Botany · Anatomy of Flowering Plants
Which element of the xylem is a living cell that stores food such as starch and helps in sideways (radial) conduction of water and minerals?
Answer: (A)
Xylem has four elements: tracheids and vessels (conduction), xylem fibres (support), and xylem parenchyma (storage and radial conduction). Only xylem parenchyma is living and handles starch storage and lateral movement of water. Tracheids, vessels and fibres are dead at maturity, so they cannot perform those living functions.
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All 16 real NEET questions from Anatomy of Flowering Plants.
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About Anatomy of Flowering Plants in NEET.
How many questions come from Anatomy of Flowering Plants in NEET?
Anatomy of Flowering Plants (Botany, Class 11) has been asked 16 times in the 7 NEET papers from 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026: about 2.3 questions a paper, 5% of all Botany questions. It is the 11th most-asked of 17 Botany chapters. NEET 2026 had 0 from it.
Which topics of Anatomy of Flowering Plants are asked most in NEET?
Anatomy of root, stem and leaf (7), Tissue systems (5), Secondary growth (4), counted over the papers from 2018–2026.
Is Anatomy of Flowering Plants important for NEET 2027?
It is in the syllabus in force, so it can be asked. By past papers it ranks 11 of 17 in Botany; use that to decide how much time it gets, not whether to study it.
Where can I solve Anatomy of Flowering Plants NEET previous year questions?
On Nikaalle, free: sign up and practise every past NEET question from Anatomy of Flowering Plants with an explanation for each, or sit the full papers timed. The ten questions on this page are our own, written in the same pattern.
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