Class 9 Science · Original EZT practice
Tissues in Action (Class 9 Science Chapter 3): summary and practice
A group of similar cells doing one job together is a tissue - and plants and animals build very different ones. This chapter shows how plants grow through meristems, how permanent tissues like xylem and phloem transport water and food, and how animal tissues protect, move and coordinate the body. All questions are original EZT tutor practice following the chapter's own section order.
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 22 October 2026:
1. Why plant and animal tissues differ
Plants are stationary and grow only in specific regions, while animals move around and respond to their surroundings - so animals need extra tissue types for movement, control and coordination that plants simply do not have.
2. Meristems - tissues for growth in plants
Meristems are tissues whose cells keep dividing, and they sit in the growth regions - the apical meristem grows the plant in length, the lateral meristem grows it in girth, and the intercalary meristem lets parts like grass regrow after grazing or cutting.
3. Permanent tissues in plants
Once meristem cells stop dividing they take up fixed roles as permanent tissues - xylem transports water and minerals up the plant, while phloem transports food from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
4. Animal tissues
In animals, epithelial tissue covers and protects body surfaces and organs, muscle tissue produces movement, nervous tissue carries messages for control and coordination, and connective tissues such as bone give structural support.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Name the transport tissues
Choose the method: Xylem carries water up; phloem carries food around.
EZT practice question
Name the plant tissues that transport (a) water and minerals, and (b) food.
Show the worked solution
- Plants need two separate transport pipelines.
- Water and minerals absorbed by the roots travel upwards through one tissue.
- Food made in the leaves travels to the rest of the plant through another.
Answer: (a) Xylem transports water and minerals; (b) phloem transports food.
Check: A memory hook: xylem lifts water to the sky; phloem carries food.
Watch for this: Do not swap the two - xylem never carries food and phloem never carries water and minerals.
Now try it yourself
Through which tissue does water reach the leaves?
Check your answer
The xylem.
Xylem is the water and mineral pipeline of the plant.
Match animal tissues to jobs
Choose the method: Nervous tissue signals; muscle tissue moves.
EZT practice question
Which tissue carries messages to different parts of an animal's body, and which enables movement?
Show the worked solution
- Animals must coordinate a moving body.
- Messages travel as signals through one tissue.
- Movement itself is produced by another tissue contracting.
Answer: Nervous tissue carries messages; muscle tissue enables movement.
Check: These are the two tissue types plants lack - plants neither move nor send rapid messages.
Watch for this: Do not credit epithelial tissue with messaging - it covers and protects, it does not signal.
Now try it yourself
Why do animals need nervous tissue but plants do not?
Check your answer
Animals must coordinate movement and quick responses.
A stationary plant has no moving body to control.
Locate the apical meristem
Choose the method: Length growth happens at the tips.
EZT practice question
A potted plant grows taller while its tip is intact, but a stem with its tip cut off stops lengthening. Which meristem is responsible, and where is it?
Show the worked solution
- The plant lengthens only while the tip is present.
- So the dividing tissue for length growth must sit at the tip itself.
- That is the apical meristem, found at the tips of stems and roots.
Answer: The apical meristem, at the tip of the stem (and root) - it divides to grow the plant in length.
Check: Cutting the tip removes the meristem, which is exactly why lengthening stops.
Watch for this: Do not place length growth in the lateral meristem - that one thickens, it does not lengthen.
Now try it yourself
Where is the apical meristem found?
Check your answer
At the tips of stems and roots.
Those are the regions where the plant grows in length.
Choose the right meristem
Choose the method: Girth is lateral; regrowth after grazing is intercalary.
EZT practice question
Which meristem increases the girth of a tree trunk, and which lets grass regrow quickly after grazing?
Show the worked solution
- A trunk thickening sideways is growth in girth.
- Girth growth comes from the lateral meristem.
- Grass regrowing from its base after being eaten down uses the intercalary meristem.
Answer: Girth: the lateral meristem. Regrowth after grazing: the intercalary meristem.
Check: The intercalary meristem sits near the base of grass leaves, which is why mowing never kills the lawn.
Watch for this: Do not answer apical for either - the apical meristem only adds length at tips.
Now try it yourself
Why does grass survive repeated grazing?
Check your answer
Its intercalary meristem keeps producing new growth.
The dividing tissue sits low, safe from the grazer.
Identify the covering tissue
Choose the method: Covering and protection means epithelial.
EZT practice question
Name the tissue that forms the protective covering of body surfaces and organs in animals.
Show the worked solution
- Every body surface and organ needs a protective wrap.
- One animal tissue specialises in exactly this covering job.
- It is the epithelial tissue.
Answer: Epithelial tissue.
Check: Skin and the lining of organs are everyday examples of epithelial tissue at work.
Watch for this: Do not answer muscle or nervous tissue - those move and signal; they do not cover.
Now try it yourself
Give one place where epithelial tissue is found.
Check your answer
Covering the skin, or lining an organ.
Its role is protection of surfaces.
Separate dividing from fixed cells
Choose the method: Meristematic cells divide; permanent cells have a fixed role.
EZT practice question
State one difference between meristematic and permanent tissue cells.
Show the worked solution
- Meristems are the plant's growth zones.
- Their cells keep dividing again and again.
- Permanent tissue cells have stopped dividing and settled into a fixed role, like transport.
Answer: Meristematic cells keep dividing; permanent tissue cells have stopped dividing and taken up a fixed role.
Check: Permanent tissues like xylem and phloem are actually made from meristem cells that stopped dividing.
Watch for this: Do not say permanent cells never came from meristems - every permanent tissue began as meristem.
Now try it yourself
What happens to a meristem cell when it stops dividing?
Check your answer
It becomes a permanent tissue cell with a fixed role.
That is how growth tissues mature into working tissues.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Tissue?
Show answer and reason
A group of similar cells performing one function together.
Muscle tissue for movement is one example.
2. Three types of meristem?
Show answer and reason
Apical, lateral and intercalary.
Length, girth and regrowth respectively.
3. Xylem vs phloem?
Show answer and reason
Xylem carries water and minerals; phloem carries food.
Two separate transport pipelines in plants.
4. Epithelial tissue?
Show answer and reason
The protective covering of body surfaces and organs.
Its job is protection, not movement or signalling.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Which meristem increases the girth of a tree trunk?
- Grass regrows quickly after grazing. Which meristem makes this possible?
- State one difference between meristematic and permanent tissue cells.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is a tissue?
- A group of similar cells that work together to perform one function - muscle tissue for movement is one example.
- What are the three types of meristem?
- Apical (growth in length), lateral (growth in girth) and intercalary (regrowth after grazing or cutting).
- What do xylem and phloem do?
- Xylem transports water and minerals; phloem transports food through the plant.
- Name the main animal tissues in Class 9.
- Epithelial (covering and protection), muscle (movement), nervous (control and coordination), plus connective tissues such as bone for support.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for Class 9 Science Chapter 3?
- No. EZT pages are original practice following the chapter's section order - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.