Match the following events in plants. List I A. Absorption of water B.…

Concept

The outer epidermal layer of a young root, called the epiblema (or piliferous layer), gives rise to fine tubular outgrowths known as root hairs — so a root hair is itself an epiblema cell, and the two are not two separate tissues but two ways of describing the same absorptive surface (with and without its hair-like extensions). Because root hairs are elongated, they add enormous surface area, which is why exam convention credits them specifically with the bulk of the plant's passive, osmosis-driven water uptake; the active, energy-requiring uptake of mineral ions is credited to the epiblema surface more broadly (the standard textbook simplification, even though in reality root-hair cells also take up some minerals). Once inside the root, water (with its dissolved minerals) is carried upward through the xylem — dead, lignified conducting tissue driven mainly by transpiration pull — whereas the food manufactured during photosynthesis, chiefly the sugar sucrose, is carried to every growing and storage region of the plant through the living phloem tissue.

Application

1. Absorption of water (A) is conventionally credited to root hairs (iii): their elongated shape maximises the surface area available for the passive, osmosis-driven entry of water.

2. Absorption of minerals (B) is conventionally credited to the epiblema (iv) as a whole: this reflects the standard simplification that treats bulk active-transport ion uptake as a property of the general young epidermal layer rather than of the hair outgrowths specifically.

3. Transport of water (C) occurs through the xylem (i) — its dead, lignified vessels and tracheids conduct the ascending stream of water (and dissolved minerals) from root to shoot under transpiration pull.

4. Transport of sucrose (D) occurs through the phloem (ii) — its living sieve tubes carry the sugar manufactured in photosynthesising leaves to roots, fruits, and other sink tissues by pressure flow.

Cross-check

Xylem and phloem can be told apart independently of this item: xylem is dead tissue transporting water and minerals in one direction (root to shoot) by a purely physical pull, while phloem is living tissue transporting organic solutes such as sucrose in either direction using metabolic energy. That distinction fixes water-transport with xylem and sucrose-transport with phloem, exactly as applied above.

The matching A-iii, B-iv, C-i, D-ii is therefore correct.