UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 78 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Red Sanders

With reference to ‘Red Sanders’, sometimes seen in the news, consider the following statements:

1. It is a tree species found in a part of South India.

2. It is one of the most important trees in the tropical rain forest areas of South India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

Verdict

The answer is 1 only. Red Sanders is a South Indian tree species, but it grows in dry deciduous and scrub forest, not tropical rain forest.

Analysis

Statement 1 is CORRECT. Pterocarpus santalinus is found in a small pocket of roughly five thousand two hundred square kilometres in the Palakonda and Seshachalam hills of Andhra Pradesh. Statement 2 is INCORRECT on habitat. Red Sanders grows in thorny scrub and dry deciduous forest of the central Deccan at elevations between about five hundred and three thousand feet, which is the opposite of a tropical rain forest environment. Its slow growing deep red heartwood is what drives the smuggling that keeps it in the news.

Source

The Hindu reporting on Red Sanders and vigil in the Seshachalam hills.

How to crack it

Separate the species from its more famous namesake, since Red Sanders is not fragrant sandalwood and does not share its distribution. Then apply the habitat test, because a slow growing hardwood prized for dense red timber is characteristic of dry forest, where slow growth produces dense wood, rather than of fast growing rain forest. Wood density and growth rate are physically linked, and that link lets you infer habitat from the timber's reputation.

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