Morphology of Flowering Plants is Chapter 5 of NCERT Class 11 Biology and part of Unit 2, Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants, of the NEET UG syllabus. These notes cover the root, stem, leaf, venation and phyllotaxy, inflorescence, flower, aestivation, placentation, fruit, seed, floral formula and the family Solanaceae, with a free notes PDF.
Morphology of Flowering Plants NEET Notes
Section-wise key points from NCERT Chapter 5, comparison tables, high-yield facts and common mistakes for NEET 2027 revision.
Morphology of Flowering Plants at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| NEET UG syllabus unit | Unit 2: Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants |
| NCERT textbook | Biology, Class 11, Chapter 5 (rationalised book) |
| Other chapters in the unit | Anatomy of Flowering Plants (Chapter 6), Structural Organisation in Animals (Chapter 7) |
| Syllabus topics | Morphology and modifications; root, stem, leaf, inflorescence (cymose and racemose), flower, fruit and seed; families Malvaceae, Cruciferae, Leguminosae, Compositae and Gramineae |
| Official chapter | NCERT Chapter 5 |
| Notes PDF | View PDF |
The topic list follows the NEET UG 2026 syllabus released by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on 22 December 2025, which stays the reference until the 2027 syllabus is out. The full list is on the NEET syllabus page.
The rationalised NCERT chapter describes one family in detail, Solanaceae, and uses mustard (Brassicaceae) as the floral formula example. The five families named in the syllabus are not described in the chapter, so check them against the official syllabus and your practical work.
Root: Types, Regions and Functions
The underground part of a flowering plant is the root system; the part above the ground is the shoot system.
| Root system | How it forms | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tap root | Direct elongation of the radicle forms the primary root, which bears secondary, tertiary and further lateral roots | Mustard (most dicots) |
| Fibrous root | The primary root is short-lived and is replaced by many roots from the base of the stem | Wheat (monocots) |
| Adventitious root | Roots arise from parts of the plant other than the radicle | Grass, Monstera, banyan |
- Functions: absorption of water and minerals, anchorage, storage of reserve food and synthesis of plant growth regulators.
Regions of the Root
| Region | Key feature |
|---|---|
| Root cap | Thimble-like cover at the apex that protects the tender tip as it pushes through the soil |
| Region of meristematic activity | A few millimetres above the root cap; small, thin-walled cells with dense protoplasm that divide repeatedly |
| Region of elongation | Cells elongate and enlarge rapidly; responsible for growth in length |
| Region of maturation | Cells differentiate; some epidermal cells form root hairs that absorb water and minerals |
Stem: Features and Functions
The stem is the ascending part of the axis that bears branches, leaves, flowers and fruits; it develops from the plumule of the germinating seed.
- The stem has nodes (where leaves are borne) and internodes (the portions between nodes).
- It bears terminal or axillary buds. It is usually green when young and later often becomes woody and dark brown.
- Main function: spreading out branches bearing leaves, flowers and fruits. It conducts water, minerals and photosynthates.
- Some stems also store food, give support and protection, and carry out vegetative propagation.
- Nodes and internodes, multicellular hair and positive phototropism help to tell a stem from a root.
Leaf: Parts, Venation, Types and Phyllotaxy
The leaf is a lateral, generally flattened structure that develops at the node and bears a bud in its axil; it is the most important vegetative organ for photosynthesis.
- Leaves arise from shoot apical meristems and are arranged in acropetal order.
- A typical leaf has three parts: leaf base, petiole and lamina. The leaf base may bear two small lateral stipules.
- In monocots the leaf base expands into a sheath around the stem; in some leguminous plants it swells into a pulvinus.
- The petiole holds the blade to light; long, thin, flexible petioles let the blade flutter, cooling the leaf and bringing fresh air to its surface.
- The lamina has veins and veinlets; the prominent middle vein is the midrib. Veins give rigidity and carry water, minerals and food.
| Feature | Type 1 | Type 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Venation | Reticulate: veinlets form a network; usual in dicots | Parallel: veins run parallel; characteristic of most monocots |
| Leaf type | Simple: lamina entire, or incisions do not touch the midrib | Compound: incisions reach the midrib, forming leaflets |
| Compound leaf | Pinnately compound: leaflets on a common axis, the rachis (the midrib), as in neem | Palmately compound: leaflets attached at the tip of the petiole, as in silk cotton |
- A bud is present in the axil of the petiole of both simple and compound leaves, but not in the axil of leaflets.
Phyllotaxy
| Type | Arrangement | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Alternate | A single leaf at each node, in alternate manner | China rose, mustard, sunflower |
| Opposite | A pair of leaves at each node, opposite each other | Calotropis, guava |
| Whorled | More than two leaves at a node, forming a whorl | Alstonia |
Inflorescence: Racemose and Cymose
A flower is a modified shoot in which the shoot apical meristem changes into a floral meristem. The arrangement of flowers on the floral axis is the inflorescence.
- Internodes do not elongate and the axis is condensed; floral appendages form at successive nodes instead of leaves.
- When a shoot tip itself becomes a flower, the flower is always solitary.
| Feature | Racemose | Cymose |
|---|---|---|
| Main axis | Continues to grow | Ends in a flower, so growth is limited |
| Order of flowers | Borne laterally in acropetal succession | Borne in basipetal order |
Flower: Whorls, Symmetry and Position of the Ovary
The flower is the reproductive unit of angiosperms. Its four whorls (calyx, corolla, androecium and gynoecium) sit on the swollen end of the pedicel, the thalamus or receptacle.
- Calyx and corolla are accessory organs; androecium and gynoecium are reproductive organs.
- When calyx and corolla are not distinct, as in lily, they are called perianth.
- A flower with both androecium and gynoecium is bisexual; one with only stamens or only carpels is unisexual.
- Trimerous, tetramerous and pentamerous flowers have floral parts in multiples of 3, 4 and 5.
- Flowers with bracts (reduced leaves at the base of the pedicel) are bracteate; those without are ebracteate.
| Symmetry | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Actinomorphic (radial) | Can be divided into two equal radial halves in any radial plane through the centre | Mustard, datura, chilli |
| Zygomorphic (bilateral) | Can be divided into two similar halves in only one vertical plane | Pea, gulmohur, bean, Cassia |
| Asymmetric (irregular) | Cannot be divided into two similar halves by any vertical plane | Canna |
| Flower type | Ovary | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Hypogynous: gynoecium highest, other parts below it | Superior | Mustard, china rose, brinjal |
| Perigynous: gynoecium in the centre, other parts on the rim of the thalamus at about the same level | Half inferior | Plum, rose, peach |
| Epigynous: thalamus grows up and fuses with the ovary; other parts arise above it | Inferior | Guava, cucumber, ray florets of sunflower |
Parts of a Flower: Calyx, Corolla, Androecium and Gynoecium
Each flower normally has four floral whorls; their union, arrangement and number are used to describe and classify flowering plants.
- Calyx: outermost whorl of sepals, usually green and leaf-like, protecting the bud. Gamosepalous (united) or polysepalous (free).
- Corolla: petals, usually brightly coloured to attract insects. Gamopetalous (united) or polypetalous (free); tubular, bell-shaped, funnel-shaped or wheel-shaped.
Aestivation
Aestivation is the arrangement of sepals or petals in the floral bud with respect to the other members of the same whorl.
| Type | Arrangement | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Valvate | Margins just touch without overlapping | Calotropis |
| Twisted | One margin overlaps the next, and so on | China rose, lady’s finger, cotton |
| Imbricate | Margins overlap but not in any particular direction | Cassia, gulmohur |
| Vexillary (papilionaceous) | Largest petal (standard) overlaps two wings, which overlap two smallest anterior petals (keel) | Pea, bean |
Androecium
- Each stamen (male reproductive organ) has a filament and an anther. The anther is usually bilobed, and each lobe has two pollen sacs. A sterile stamen is a staminode.
- Epipetalous: stamens attached to petals (brinjal). Epiphyllous: attached to the perianth (lily).
- Polyandrous: stamens free. Monoadelphous: one bundle (china rose). Diadelphous: two bundles (pea). Polyadelphous: more than two bundles (citrus).
- Filament length can vary within a flower, as in Salvia and mustard.
Gynoecium and Placentation
- Gynoecium is the female part, made of one or more carpels. Each carpel has a stigma (receptive surface for pollen), style and ovary.
- Ovules are attached to a flattened, cushion-like placenta inside the ovary.
- Apocarpous: carpels free (lotus, rose). Syncarpous: carpels fused (mustard, tomato).
- After fertilisation the ovules become seeds and the ovary becomes the fruit.
| Placentation | Arrangement of ovules | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Marginal | Placenta forms a ridge along the ventral suture; ovules in two rows | Pea |
| Axile | Placenta is axial in a multilocular ovary | China rose, tomato, lemon |
| Parietal | Ovules on the inner wall; one-chambered ovary becomes two-chambered by a false septum | Mustard, Argemone |
| Free central | Ovules on a central axis; septa absent | Dianthus, Primrose |
| Basal | Placenta at the base of the ovary with a single ovule | Sunflower, marigold |
Fruit and Seed
The fruit is a mature or ripened ovary formed after fertilisation; the seed is a ripened ovule with a seed coat and an embryo.
- A fruit formed without fertilisation of the ovary is a parthenocarpic fruit.
- A fruit has a wall (pericarp) and seeds. A thick, fleshy pericarp is divided into epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp.
- Mango and coconut are drupes: they develop from monocarpellary superior ovaries and are one-seeded.
- Mango: thin epicarp, fleshy edible mesocarp, stony hard endocarp. Coconut: fibrous mesocarp.
- The embryo has a radicle, an embryonal axis and one cotyledon (wheat, maize) or two (gram, pea).
| Feature | Dicot seed | Monocot seed (maize) |
|---|---|---|
| Seed coat | Outer testa and inner tegmen; hilum is the scar of attachment, with the micropyle above it | Membranous and generally fused with the fruit wall |
| Cotyledons | Two, often fleshy and full of reserve food | One large, shield-shaped cotyledon, the scutellum |
| Endosperm | Present in castor (endospermic); absent in mature bean, gram and pea seeds (non-endospermous) | Generally endospermic and bulky (orchids are non-endospermic); a proteinous aleurone layer separates it from the embryo |
| Embryonal axis | Radicle and plumule at the two ends | Plumule enclosed in the coleoptile, radicle in the coleorhiza |
Floral Formula and the Family Solanaceae
A flowering plant is described in a fixed order (habit, root, stem, leaves, then inflorescence and flower parts), followed by a floral diagram and a floral formula.
- Symbols: Br bracteate, K calyx, C corolla, P perianth, A androecium, G gynoecium; a line under or over G marks a superior or inferior ovary; ⊕ actinomorphic, % zygomorphic, ⚥ bisexual.
- Fusion is shown by brackets around the number; adhesion by a line drawn above the symbols of the floral parts.
- In a floral diagram the mother axis is a dot at the top; calyx is the outermost whorl and gynoecium is in the centre.
- NCERT’s floral formula example is mustard (family Brassicaceae): ⊕ ⚥ K2+2 C4 A2+4 G(2).
Solanaceae (potato Family)
| Character | Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Distribution | Large family, widely distributed in tropics, subtropics and even temperate zones |
| Habit | Mostly herbs and shrubs, rarely small trees |
| Stem | Herbaceous, rarely woody; erect, cylindrical, branched, solid or hollow; underground stem in potato (Solanum tuberosum) |
| Leaves | Alternate, simple, rarely pinnately compound, exstipulate; reticulate venation |
| Inflorescence | Solitary, axillary or cymose, as in Solanum |
| Flower | Bisexual, actinomorphic |
| Calyx and corolla | Five united sepals (persistent) and five united petals, both with valvate aestivation |
| Androecium | Five stamens, epipetalous |
| Gynoecium | Bicarpellary, obliquely placed, syncarpous; ovary superior, bilocular, swollen placenta with many ovules, axile |
| Fruit and seeds | Berry or capsule; seeds many, endospermous |
| Floral formula | ⊕ ⚥ K(5) C(5) A5 G(2), with stamens epipetalous and the ovary superior |
| Economic importance | Food (tomato, brinjal, potato), spice (chilli), medicine (belladonna, ashwagandha), fumigatory (tobacco), ornamental (petunia) |
Most-asked Facts for NEET: Morphology of Flowering Plants
Revise these one-line facts from the NCERT chapter just before the exam.
- Tap root: mustard; fibrous root: wheat; adventitious roots: grass, Monstera, banyan.
- Root hairs arise from the region of maturation.
- The stem develops from the plumule; leaves arise in acropetal order.
- Pulvinus is the swollen leaf base of some leguminous plants.
- Pinnately compound: neem; palmately compound: silk cotton.
- Whorled phyllotaxy: Alstonia; opposite: Calotropis, guava.
- Racemose: acropetal succession; cymose: basipetal order.
- Perianth: lily; epiphyllous stamens: lily; epipetalous stamens: brinjal.
- Perigynous ovary is half inferior: plum, rose, peach.
- Epigynous (inferior ovary): guava, cucumber, ray florets of sunflower.
- Vexillary aestivation: pea and bean (standard, wings, keel).
- Diadelphous stamens: pea; monoadelphous: china rose; polyadelphous: citrus.
- Parietal placentation with false septum: mustard, Argemone; basal: sunflower, marigold.
- Drupe: mango and coconut; coconut has a fibrous mesocarp.
- Castor seed is endospermic; bean, gram and pea are non-endospermous.
- Scutellum is the single cotyledon of the maize embryo; coleoptile covers the plumule and coleorhiza the radicle.
- Solanaceae: epipetalous stamens, valvate aestivation, bicarpellary syncarpous superior ovary with axile placentation.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Watch for these mix-ups when you answer questions on this chapter.
- Writing that racemose flowers are in basipetal order. Racemose is acropetal; cymose is basipetal.
- Calling a perigynous ovary inferior. It is half inferior.
- Giving mustard axile placentation. Mustard has parietal placentation with a false septum.
- Mixing marginal and axile placentation: pea is marginal; china rose, tomato and lemon are axile.
- Swapping twisted and imbricate examples: china rose, lady’s finger and cotton are twisted; Cassia and gulmohur are imbricate.
- Confusing epipetalous (stamens on petals, brinjal) with epiphyllous (stamens on perianth, lily).
- Looking for a bud in the axil of a leaflet. Axillary buds occur at the petiole base, not at leaflets.
- Calling the coconut mesocarp fleshy. It is fibrous; the mango mesocarp is fleshy.
- Assuming every monocot seed has endosperm. Orchid seeds are non-endospermic.
- Treating the scutellum as endosperm. It is the cotyledon.
- Giving Solanaceae twisted aestivation. NCERT gives valvate aestivation for both calyx and corolla.
Morphology of Flowering Plants Notes PDF and Related Pages
Download the AglaSem notes for Morphology of Flowering Plants (key notes and important questions with answers) free: View PDF
- All chapters: NEET Biology notes
- Full topic list: NEET syllabus
- Practice: NEET question papers
- Source text: NCERT Chapter 5 (NCERT, Class 11 Biology)
NEET Biology Notes: All Chapters
Botany
- The Living World
- Biological Classification
- Plant Kingdom
- Cell: The Unit of Life
- Plant Growth and Development
- Anatomy of Flowering Plants
- Cell Cycle and Cell Division
- Respiration in Plants
- Photosynthesis in Higher Plants
- Morphology of Flowering Plants
- Principles of Inheritance and Variation
- Microbes in Human Welfare
- Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants
- Molecular Basis of Inheritance
- Organisms and Populations
- Ecosystem
- Biodiversity and Conservation
Zoology
- Animal Kingdom
- Biomolecules
- Breathing and Exchange of Gases
- Excretory Products and their Elimination
- Body Fluids and Circulation
- Structural Organisation in Animals
- Locomotion and Movement
- Reproductive Health
- Chemical Coordination and Integration
- Neural Control and Coordination
- Evolution
- Human Health and Disease
- Human Reproduction
- Biotechnology and its Applications
- Biotechnology: Principles and Processes
All chapters with their notes PDFs are on the NEET Biology notes page.
Morphology of Flowering Plants NEET Notes FAQs
Which NCERT chapter is Morphology of Flowering Plants?
It is Chapter 5 of the NCERT Class 11 Biology textbook, the first chapter of Unit 2, Structural Organisation in Plants and Animals. Anatomy of Flowering Plants (Chapter 6) and Structural Organisation in Animals (Chapter 7) complete the unit.
Is Morphology of Flowering Plants in the NEET 2027 syllabus?
It is in the latest NEET UG syllabus (2026, released by NMC on 22 December 2025) under Unit 2, Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants. NMC is expected to release the 2027 syllabus later; check this page and the syllabus page once it is out.
Which plant families are covered in this chapter?
The rationalised NCERT chapter describes Solanaceae (the potato family) in detail and gives mustard (Brassicaceae) as the floral formula example. The NEET syllabus also names Malvaceae, Cruciferae, Leguminosae, Compositae and Gramineae, which are not described in the chapter.
What is the difference between racemose and cymose inflorescence?
In racemose inflorescence the main axis keeps growing and flowers are borne laterally in acropetal succession. In cymose inflorescence the main axis ends in a flower, so its growth is limited, and flowers are borne in basipetal order.
Are these notes enough for NEET questions on this chapter?
No. Read NCERT Chapter 5 line by line first, because NEET Biology questions closely follow the NCERT textbooks. Use these notes and the PDF for quick revision, then practise previous year questions.