Question

What is common to the following plants: Nepenthes, Psilotum, Rauvolfia and Aconitum?
A. All are ornamental plants
B. All are phylogenetic link species
C. All are prone to over exploitation
D. All are exclusively present in the eastern himalayas

Answer 1

Hint: Medicinal plants are plants with medicinal characteristics or that have a positive pharmacological effect on the human or animal body.
Herbalists use the term "medicinal plant" to refer to a variety of plants ("herbology" or "herbal medicine").
It is the practise of using and studying plants for therapeutic purposes.
The fundamental characteristic of ornamental plants, often known as garden plants, is their attractiveness.
They're frequently grown in a flower garden to show off their blooms.
It's a plant that's largely produced for its aesthetic value, whether for screening, accent, specimen, colour, or aesthetic purposes.

Complete Explanation:
OptionA: The attractiveness of decorative plants, often known as garden plants, is their most important feature.
They're commonly cultivated in flower gardens to display their blossoms.
It's a plant primarily grown for its aesthetic value, whether as a screening, accent, specimen, colour, or aesthetic plant.
So option a is not correct
Option B: The idea of a species as an irreducible group whose members are all descended from a common ancestor and share a set of distinguishing, or derived, characteristics.
As a result, a species is defined as a group of organisms with a shared and distinct evolutionary history.
The relatedness of two species in a phylogenetic tree has a very specific meaning.
If two species share a more recent common ancestor, they are more connected, and if they have a less recent common ancestor, they are less connected.
Hence option B is not correct
Option C: The pitcher plant is also known as Nepenthes.
It's a plant that eats insects.
Psilotum is a pteridophyte that has therapeutic properties.
Aconitum is a plant that has therapeutic properties.
Rauvolfia is a medicinal herb as well.
We can see that all of the plants have unique traits and uses, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
Hence option C is correct
Option D: Nepenthes is another name for the pitcher plant.
It's an insect-eating plant.
Psilotum is a pteridophyte with anti-inflammatory effects.
Aconitum is a plant with medicinal effects.
Rauvolfia is also a medicinal plant.
We can observe that each plant has its own characteristics and uses, making them open to exploitation.
So option D is incorrect

Note:
Destructive harvesting has resulted in medical plant depletion and scarcity.
The loss of habitat caused by the export of medicinal plants taken from wild sources eventually resulted in the genetic stock of many of these species being severely and irreversibly lost.
Because of destructive harvesting practises and over-harvesting for the development of medicines with little or no concern for the future, the genetic diversity of medicinal plants around the world is being threatened at an alarming rate.