Q.(a) With a suitable diagram explain the structure of an ovule. OR

(a) An ovule's parts are the funicle, hilum, integuments, micropyle, nucellus and embryo sac, with the chalaza at the base; (b) Black Pepper, native to the Western Ghats, is the "King of Spices".

(a) Structure of an ovule

Since a diagram cannot be physically drawn here, the structure of a typical anatropous angiosperm ovule (the most common type) is described part by part, as it would be labelled in the diagram:

1. Funicle: the stalk that attaches the ovule to the placenta (the ovary wall tissue bearing the ovules).
2. Hilum: the point/region where the funicle joins the body of the ovule.
3. Integument(s): one or two protective layers of tissue that envelop the nucellus, growing up around it but leaving a small opening at the tip.
4. Micropyle: the small pore left at the tip of the integuments, through which the pollen tube enters the ovule during fertilisation.
5. Nucellus: the megasporangium tissue enclosed within the integuments, inside which the megaspore mother cell undergoes meiosis to eventually produce the embryo sac.
6. Embryo sac: the mature female gametophyte lying within the nucellus, typically 8-nucleate/7-celled, consisting of an egg apparatus (1 egg cell + 2 synergids) at the micropylar end, 3 antipodal cells at the chalazal end, and a central cell containing 2 polar nuclei.
7. Chalaza: the basal region of the ovule, opposite the micropyle, where the integuments, nucellus, and funicle all meet/fuse.
8. Raphe: in an anatropous ovule (where the body of the ovule is inverted so that the micropyle lies close to the funicle), the fused funicle forms a ridge, the raphe, running along one side of the ovule.

(b) The "King of Spices"

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