Which plant species exhibits a mutually dependent relationship with a specific moth species, where neither can complete its life cycle without the other?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Yucca
Some flowers reward their pollinators with a safe place to lay eggs. Yucca and a species of moth depend on each other in this way. Neither the plant nor the moth can complete its life cycle without the other.
The other plants do not show this tie: Vallisneria is pollinated by water, the common pansy (Viola) produces flowers that pollinate themselves, and banana is not tied to any one pollinator in this way.
NCERT Extract:
Pollination – “… In some species floral rewards are in providing safe places to lay eggs; an example is that of the tallest flower of Amorphophallus (the flower itself is about 6 feet in height). A similar relationship exists between a species of moth and the plant Yucca where both species – moth and the plant – cannot complete their life cycles without each other. The moth deposits its eggs in the locule of the ovary and the flower, in turn, gets pollinated by the moth. The larvae of the moth come out of the eggs as the seeds start developing.”