Ice can kill plants if it is formed inside the plant cells.

• A. Outside plant cells
• B. In xylem
• C. In soil
• D. Inside plant cells

Answer: (D)

When ice forms inside plant cells, it is usually lethal because water expands as it freezes and tiny ice crystals tear the delicate structures inside the cell. The plasma membrane, organelles, and cytosol are disrupted, membranes rupture, and essential processes stop. Once many cells are damaged this way, tissues cannot function or recover, leading to plant death. Ice elsewhere—outside the cells or in the vascular system—can cause stress by dehydrating cells or blocking water transport, but the immediate, irreversible damage that kills cells comes from intracellular freezing.