Select the correct answers to the questions from the given options. (Do not copy the questions, write the correct answer only.)
Assertion (A): A thick cuticle reduces transpiration by acting as a barrier. Reason (R): Desert plants have large, thin leaves for transpiration.
Topic: Assertion-Reason — cuticle and transpiration
Try it
Pick an option and check your answer. The full worked answer is below either way.
Answer
(A) is true and (R) is false.
Take the two statements separately.
THE ASSERTION IS TRUE. The cuticle is a waxy waterproof layer over the epidermis, and a thicker one is a better barrier to water vapour, so cuticular transpiration falls.
THE REASON IS FALSE, and this is the whole question. Desert plants (xerophytes) have SMALL, THICK, reduced leaves — often spines, as in cactus — precisely in order to MINIMISE transpiration. Large, thin leaves are a feature of plants growing where water is plentiful, because a large thin lamina loses water rapidly. The reason states the opposite of the truth.
So the assertion is true and the reason is false — option (A).
METHOD FOR ANY ASSERTION-REASON QUESTION: judge each statement on its own first, and only if BOTH are true ask whether the reason explains the assertion. Deciding the truth of each separately prevents you being led by how plausible the pairing sounds.