Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R). Assertion (A): In a monocotyledonous stem, the peripheral vascular bundles are generally smaller than the centrally located ones. Reason (R): Each vascular bundle in a monocot stem is surrounded by a sclerenchymatous bundle sheath and encloses a water-containing cavity. In the light of the above statements, choos

Step-by-step solution

Assertion (A) is a correct statement. In the anatomy of a monocotyledonous stem, the vascular bundles are scattered throughout the ground tissue, and the peripheral vascular bundles are generally smaller than the centrally located ones. Reason (R) is also a correct statement. A characteristic feature of monocot stems is that each vascular bundle is surrounded by a sclerenchymatous bundle sheath and contains water-containing cavities. However, the presence of a bundle sheath and water cavities does not explain why t