Endosperm Development & Coconut Water — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2016The coconut water from tender coconut represents (NEET 2016)
The coconut water from tender coconut represents (NEET 2016)
Answer & NCERT explanation
Correct answer: B — Free nuclear endosperm
Coconut water in tender coconut represents free nuclear endosperm. It's the liquid endosperm formed after double fertilization where the triploid endosperm nucleus undergoes free nuclear divisions without cell wall formation initially. As the coconut matures, this liquid endosperm gradually solidifies to form the white coconut meat. It's not proembryo, endocarp (hard shell), or mesocarp (fibrous layer).
Read more NCERT concept on the PYQ
The cells of this tissue are filled with reserve food materials and are used for the nutrition of the developing embryo. In the most common type of endosperm development, the PEN undergoes successive nuclear divisions to give rise to free nuclei. This stage of endosperm development is called free-nuclear endosperm. Subsequently cell wall formation occurs and the endosperm becomes cellular. The number of free nuclei formed before cellularisation varies greatly. The coconut water from tender coconut that you are familiar with, is nothing but free-nuclear endosperm (made up of thousands of nuclei) and the surrounding white kernel is the cellular endosperm.
NTA tests whether students know that coconut water is free-nuclear endosperm (containing thousands of free nuclei without cell walls), while the white kernel is cellular endosperm (with cell walls formed after cellularisation). The trap: students confuse coconut water with the embryo or think the white part is free-nuclear. The concept appears in NEET 2016 and tests understanding of endosperm development stages—first free-nuclear (PEN divisions without cell walls), then cellular (after wall formation). Remember: coconut water = thousands of free nuclei; white kernel = cellular tissue. This distinguishes endosperm types and nutritive functions in flowering plants.
What does NCERT say about cells this tissue are?
Has this concept appeared in NEET?
Which chapter is this from?
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.