GRE Reading Comprehension
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Source: XDF
Experiments show that insects can function as pollinators of cycads, rare, palmlike tropical plants. Furthermore, cycads removed from their native habitats—and therefore from insects native to those habitats—are usually infertile. Nevertheless, anecdotal reports of wind pollination in cycads cannot be ignored. The structure of cycads male cones is quite consistent with the wind dispersal of pollen, clouds of which are released from some of the larger cones. The male cone of Cycas circinalis, for example, sheds almost 100 cubic centimeters of pollen, most of which is probably dispersed by wind. Furthermore, the structure of most female cycad cones seems inconsistent with direct pollination by wind. Only in the Cycas genus are the females' ovules accessible to airborne pollen, since only in this genus are the ovules surrounded by a loose aggregation of megasporophylls rather than by a tight cone.
Question List: 1 2
The passage suggests that which of the following is true of the structure of cycad cones?
- A The structure of cycad cones provides conclusive evidence in favor of one particular explanation of cycad pollination.
- B The structure of male cycad cones rules out a possible mechanism for cycad pollination that is suggested by the structure of most female cycad cones.
- C The structure of male cycad cones is consistent with a certain means of cycad pollination, but that means is inconsistent with the structure of most female cycad cones.