When carrying the starch test on a leaf, why is it important to boil the leaf in an alcohol? (a) To dissolve the waxy cuticle (b) To make the cells more permeable to iodine solution (c) To remove the chlorophyll (d) To stop the chemical reaction in the cell

(a) To remove the chlorophyll

On boiling the leaf in alcohol, the leaf becomes decolorized, and when it is treated with iodine, the blue- black color clearly indicates the presence of starch. To avoid the interference of green color, it is treated with alcohol.