Plant: Economic Importance

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Q60. Which botanical name identifies soybean?

[CGPSC — Practice]

1. Glycine max
2. Gossypium arboreum
3. Zingiber officinale
4. Mangifera indica

Answer: (A) Glycine max

Explanation: Glycine max is soybean, valued for both protein and vegetable oil. It supplies food ingredients, animal-feed meal and processed industrial products. Gossypium is cotton, Zingiber officinale is ginger, and Mangifera indica is mango.

Q59. Which pair represents edible oils commonly extracted from plant seeds?

[UPSC CDS — Practice]

1. Castor oil and turpentine
2. Groundnut oil and sesame oil
3. Diesel and kerosene
4. Mineral oil and machine oil

Answer: (B) Groundnut oil and sesame oil

Explanation: Groundnut and sesame seeds yield edible vegetable oils used in food preparation. Castor oil is mainly used in industrial and specialty applications, while turpentine comes from resin-rich trees. Petroleum products such as diesel and kerosene are not edible plant oils.

Q58. Castor oil is chiefly obtained from the seeds of which plant?

[UPSC NDA — Practice]

1. Ricinus communis
2. Cocos nucifera
3. Camellia sinensis
4. Tectona grandis

Answer: (A) Ricinus communis

Explanation: Ricinus communis is the castor plant. Its seeds contain oil used in lubrication, industrial chemicals and selected pharmaceutical preparations after appropriate processing. Raw castor seeds are poisonous because they contain ricin; they must never be treated as edible seeds.

Q57. Which spice is the dried flower bud of a tree?

[WBCS — Practice]

1. Cumin
2. Clove
3. Black pepper
4. Turmeric

Answer: (B) Clove

Explanation: Cloves are the aromatic unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum. They are dried for culinary and commercial use. Cumin comes from fruits, black pepper from dried drupes, and turmeric from underground rhizomes rather than flower buds.

Q56. Which spice is obtained from the rhizome of Curcuma longa?

[RPSC — Practice]

1. Ginger
2. Garlic
3. Turmeric
4. Cinnamon

Answer: (C) Turmeric

Explanation: Curcuma longa produces turmeric rhizomes containing the yellow pigment curcumin. Turmeric is widely used as a spice, colourant and in traditional remedies. Ginger is also a rhizome, but it comes from a different genus, Zingiber.

Q55. Which part of the ginger plant is commonly used as a spice?

[SSC CGL — Practice]

1. Seed coat
2. Rhizome
3. Petal
4. Root hair

Answer: (B) Rhizome

Explanation: The edible and commercial part of ginger is a rhizome, which is an underground modified stem. It stores reserves and bears buds capable of producing new shoots. Ginger is used fresh, dried or processed in foods and beverages.

Q54. What is the botanical source of commercial tea?

[SSC CHSL — Practice]

1. Camellia sinensis
2. Coffea arabica
3. Cinchona officinalis
4. Theobroma cacao

Answer: (A) Camellia sinensis

Explanation: Tea is manufactured mainly from the young leaves and buds of Camellia sinensis. Processing methods produce black, green and other teas. Coffea arabica supplies coffee beans, while Cinchona is associated with quinine and Theobroma cacao with cocoa.

Q53. Coffee as a beverage is prepared mainly from which plant part?

[SSC MTS — Practice]

1. Bark
2. Roasted seeds
3. Leaves
4. Fibrous stem

Answer: (B) Roasted seeds

Explanation: Coffee beans are actually seeds found inside the fruits of Coffea plants. The seeds are processed, roasted and ground to prepare the beverage. Tea, by comparison, is made mainly from young leaves and buds rather than roasted seeds.

Q52. Which vegetable is an edible modified stem tuber?

[RRB Group D — Practice]

1. Carrot
2. Potato
3. Radish
4. Turnip

Answer: (B) Potato

Explanation: Potato tubers are swollen underground stems bearing nodes or eyes that can sprout. Carrot, radish and turnip are primarily storage roots. Distinguishing plant organs explains differences in propagation, storage and uses in food markets and agricultural systems.

Q51. Which vegetable is a storage root rather than a stem tuber?

[RRB NTPC — Practice]

1. Potato
2. Ginger
3. Sweet potato
4. Turmeric

Answer: (C) Sweet potato

Explanation: Sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, forms enlarged storage roots. Potato is a stem tuber, whereas ginger and turmeric produce rhizomes. Though all grow underground, their anatomical origins differ and influence vegetative propagation and food storage.