Which of the following statements is/are true? (a) Self pollination takes…

Concept: Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma. Self-pollination is transfer within the same flower or between two different flowers on the same plant (geitonogamy); cross-pollination is transfer between flowers on two different plants of the same species. A bisexual (hermaphrodite) flower carries both stamens and a pistil in one flower, but self-pollination itself is not restricted to bisexual flowers — on a monoecious plant (separate male and female flowers on one individual, e.g. cucumber or maize), pollen moving from a male flower to a female flower of the same plant is still self-pollination, even though neither flower is bisexual.

Application: Statement (a) claims self-pollination happens only in bisexual flowers. Because monoecious plants show self-pollination between their own separate unisexual flowers, this absolute claim is too strong, so statement (a) is false.

Statement (b) says a bisexual flower can undergo both self-pollination (its own anther can pollinate its own stigma) and cross-pollination (its stigma can also receive compatible pollen carried in from a different plant of the same species). Both mechanisms are open to a bisexual flower, so statement (b) is true.

Cross-check — testing every pairing by value:

• “(a) is true and (b) is false” — wrongly denies that a bisexual flower's stigma can receive compatible pollen from another plant, i.e. that it can be cross-pollinated at all.

• “Both (a) and (b) are false” — correctly rejects the absolute “only” in (a), but still wrongly denies a bisexual flower's capacity for cross-pollination.

• “Both (a) and (b) are true” — wrongly accepts the absolute “only” in (a), ignoring that monoecious plants also show self-pollination without any bisexual flower involved.

Only the pairing “(a) is false and (b) is true” avoids both errors, matching how self- and cross-pollination are actually defined.