Previous Year Question

A native tree is a species whose natural indigenous range includes India. Extensive cultivation of a foreign species in India does not make that species native to India.

1. Cashew—not native to India

• The scientific name of cashew is Anacardium occidentale.

• Its natural origin lies in tropical America. According to Kew’s Plants of the World Online, its native range extends from Trinidad to tropical South America.

• Cashew is extensively cultivated in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, but widespread cultivation does not make it an Indian native.

• Cashew is therefore an introduced and cultivated species in India.

2. Papaya—not native to India

• The scientific name of papaya is Carica papaya.

• Its native range extends from southern Mexico to Venezuela in tropical America.

• India is now a major producer of papaya and the crop is cultivated in several parts of the country, but India is not included in its original natural range.

• Papaya is therefore also not native to India.

3. Red sanders—native to India

• The scientific name of red sanders is Pterocarpus santalinus.

• Its native range is southern India. It occurs naturally in a restricted part of the southern Eastern Ghats, particularly in Andhra Pradesh.

• Its principal natural range is associated with hill systems such as the Seshachalam, Veligonda, Palakonda and Lankamala ranges.

• It grows in dry deciduous forests, rocky and nutrient-poor soils and generally in areas approximately 150–900 metres above sea level.

• Its hard, red-coloured heartwood is extremely valuable. Illegal felling and smuggling consequently constitute serious conservation threats.

• Red sanders should not be confused with ordinary or white sandalwood—Santalum album. They are botanically different species.

Thus, only red sanders is actually native to India.

Therefore, the correct answer is (a) Only one.