Non Timber Forest Produce Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Chironji oil comes from Buchanania lanzan.

The chironji (char) tree of central Indian forests yields seeds, chironji nuts, used in sweets, and a fatty oil pressed from the kernels that is used as a substitute for olive and almond oils. Its collection is an important source of income for forest dwellers.

Sterculia urens gives karaya gum, Helicteres isora (marorphali) a medicinal fruit and fibre, and Boswellia serrata the salai resin.

Answer: B

The species not in Triphala is Terminalia arjuna.

Triphala means 'three fruits': haritaki (Terminalia chebula), bibhitaki or baheda (Terminalia bellirica) and amalaki or amla (Emblica officinalis), dried and powdered in equal parts.

Arjun (Terminalia arjuna) is a medicinal tree in the same genus, whose bark is used as a heart tonic in Ayurveda, but its fruit is not part of Triphala.

Answer: C

Kapok is obtained from Ceiba pentandra.

The white silk-cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra, produces pods filled with light, buoyant, water-resistant fibres. This is true kapok, used for stuffing life jackets, pillows and mattresses.

Bombax ceiba, the red silk-cotton or semal, gives a similar floss sometimes called Indian kapok, which is the usual trap. Calotropis gigantea (aak) yields a seed floss and fibre but not kapok, and Populus deltoides is poplar.

Answer: A

The key takes 'ginger oil' to come from Cymbopogon martini.

Cymbopogon martini has two varieties: var. motia yields palmarosa oil, and var. sofia yields gingergrass oil, the 'ginger oil' of this question. (Oil from the ginger rhizome itself comes from Zingiber officinale, which is not offered.)

Cymbopogon nardus gives citronella oil, Cymbopogon flexuosus lemongrass oil, and Vetiveria zizanioides (printed 'Vetivera') vetiver or khus oil.

Answer: C

White dammar is obtained from Vateria indica.

Vateria indica, a large tree of the Western Ghats, yields a resin known as white dammar, Indian copal or piney resin, used in varnishes, lacquers and incense.

Canarium strictum yields black dammar, the obvious trap. Shorea robusta (sal) yields sal dammar (ral), and Hopea odorata yields a different dammar.

Answer: A

The plant traditionally used for snake bite is Rauvolfia serpentina.

Sarpagandha, as its Sanskrit name suggests, has long been used in folk and Ayurvedic medicine as a remedy for snake and insect bites. It is better known today as the source of reserpine, used to treat high blood pressure, and of sedative alkaloids.

Cassia fistula (amaltas) is used as a laxative, Acorus calamus (vach) for nervous and digestive complaints, and Aegle marmelos (bael) for diarrhoea and dysentery. (Modern treatment of snake bite relies on antivenom.)