UPSC Prelims 2014 GS Paper I · Q23 of 100 Environment & Ecology easy

If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there? 1. Oak 2. Rhododendron 3. Sandalwood Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only ✓ UPSC's answer
  2. (b) 3 only
  3. (c) 1 and 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3

Why the answer is (a)

• Oaks (banj, kharsu) dominate the temperate Himalayan forests between 1,500 and 3,000 m (1), and rhododendrons form brilliant red forests and alpine scrub up to 4,000 m (2).

• Sandalwood (3) is a tree of the dry deciduous forests of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, not the Himalaya.

• Hence 1 and 2 only, option (a).

Why the other options are wrong

(b) 3 only
Sandalwood grows in peninsular India, not the Himalaya.
(c) 1 and 3 only
Sandalwood is not Himalayan; rhododendron is.
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Sandalwood does not grow in the Himalaya.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2014, held on 24 August 2014. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

Practise this paper free