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UPSC Prelims 2025 · Environment · Species Watch
Consider the following pairs: Plant — Description. How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
- Cassava — Woody shrub
- Ginger — Herb with pseudostem
- Malabar spinach — Herbaceous climber
- Mint — Annual shrub
- Papaya — Woody shrub
- (a) Only two
- (b) Only three
- (c) Only four
- (d) All the five
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (b) Only three
Cassava, ginger and Malabar spinach are right; mint is a perennial herb and papaya a giant herb.
Statement by statement
1. ✓ CORRECT Cassava is a woody shrub grown for its starchy roots.
2. ✓ CORRECT Ginger’s “stem” above ground is a pseudostem of rolled leaf sheaths; the real stem is the rhizome.
3. ✓ CORRECT Basella (Malabar spinach) is a soft climbing vine.
4. ✗ WRONG Mint is a perennial herb that spreads by runners, not an annual shrub.
5. ✗ WRONG Papaya is a giant herb — its soft, hollow trunk is not woody.
The idea
Plants are sorted by the kind of stem. A herb has a soft green stem. A shrub has a woody stem that branches near the ground. A tree has one tall woody trunk. A climber has a weak stem that needs support. Size alone does not decide: papaya and banana are tall but soft, so they are giant herbs.
Cassava: woody, branching → shrub → Ginger: soft, with a false stem of leaf bases → herb → Malabar spinach: soft, twining → herbaceous climber → Mint: soft, lives for years → perennial herb → Papaya: tall but soft and hollow → giant herb
The trap
Papaya is tree-sized, so “woody” feels right. It is botanically a large herb.
Also know
Cassava (tapioca) came from South America and is grown in Kerala and Tamil Nadu; sago pearls are made from its starch. The edible part of ginger is an underground stem.
🔒 Papaya = giant herb · banana = giant herb (pseudostem) · mint = perennial herb.