Video Transcript
Which of the following statements is true about the figure below? (A) Angiospermophyta has vascular tissue, while Coniferophyta has no vascular
tissue. (B) Angiospermophyta has seeds, while Coniferophyta is seedless. (C) Angiospermophyta and Coniferophyta produce seeds. (D) Angiospermophyta and Coniferophyta have flowers.
This question asks us about the dichotomous key we can see in the provided
figure. Dichotomous keys are important for identifying organisms from a defined group of
specimens. As you can see, the word plant is written at the top since all of the species in this
dichotomous key belong to this group of organisms.
We can follow our dichotomous key down to the first junction which separates plant
species based on whether they have vascular tissue or not. Plants without vascular tissue include Bryophyta, which isn’t Angiospermophyta or
Coniferophyta as indicated in our answer choices. So we’re going to continue on in the opposite direction.
At the next junction, we are asked if the specimen produces seeds or not. Plants that have vascular tissue but do not produce seeds include Filicinophyta. Again, this doesn’t include Angiospermophyta or Coniferophyta, so we’ll move on to
the next junction.
As we can see here, Angiospermophyta has flowers, while Coniferophyta does not.
Let’s summarize what we know about these two specimens so we can answer our
question. Angiospermophyta has flowers, produces seeds, and has vascular tissue. And Coniferophyta has no flowers, produces seeds, and has vascular tissue. The only statement that indicates this correctly is given by answer choice (C):
Angiospermophyta and Coniferophyta produce seeds.
