Self-study
Poppy petals function to attract pollinating insects. ███ ███████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████████
Summary
Poppy petals attract pollinating insects. When a poppy flower is pollinated, a substance is released that causes the petals to wilt in one to two days. If a flower is not pollinated then if the plant can nourish the petals, they will remain fresh for a week or more and the substance is not released. Cutting an unpollinated poppy flower from the plant causes the same substance to be released that is released by pollination.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Cutting a poppy flower from the plant can cause it to wilt even if it was not pollinated.
16.
The statements above, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Pollinating insects are ███ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████
This is unsupported because the stimulus fails to provide us with any indication of what pollinating insects are drawn to or how the wilting flowers affect pollinators’ behavior.
b
Even if cut ███████ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ █ ███ █████
This is strongly supported because cutting poppy flowers triggers the release of the substance that causes wilting in pollinated flowers. Since the substance causes wilting in one to two days, we can expect this same outcome.
c
Flowers of all ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ █████
This is unsupported because the stimulus only discusses poppy plants, so we don’t know if other plants have this same substance.
d
The pollen on ██████████ █████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████
This is unsupported because the stimulus states nothing about the relationship between pollination and nutrients. Even though the petals wilt after pollination, they may still receive nutrients.
e
Poppy plants are ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████
This is unsupported because while we know that poppy seeds wilt after the substance is released, they may still be drawing nutrients from the soil. We don’t know the connection between wilting and nutrients.