Question

The plant yielding ‘Sola’ from its pith, highly exploited in India is:
A. Large sized tree
B. Herb
C. Palm-like Monaco
D. Perennial shrub with spongy floating stem

Answer 1

Hint:- We know that several plants are being continually exploited for various economic, medicinal, ornamental and aesthetic purposes. These can be used for their fibers, petals and the nutritional values they impart.

Complete step-by-step solution:- Aeschynomene indica (Sola), a leguminous species of Fabaceae family, found in Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam and South India is exploited for making sola hats and helmets.
Sola pith is also used as a substitute for making bottle cork, which is generally obtained from Quercus suber.
Being an aquatic shrub, it is often spotted along with rice paddies as minor weeds.
Apart from that, Sola pit-like stems are also used for making swimming-jackets, life belts and rafts.
All the above points carry us to the correct option (d) Perennial shrub with spongy floating stem.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- Leguminous plants are of very important as per the agricultural point of view:
a. Resistivity against several diseases.
b. High protein value.
c. Efficient use of Nitrogen and other crucial elements as they have a symbiotic association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
d. Most common nitrogen-fixing bacteria in leguminous plants is Rhizobium.
e. These bacteria undergo aerobic respiration when in free form but get transit to anaerobic respiration at the time of symbiosis.
f. Legumes increase the nitrogen content of the soil hence, increases its fertility.

Note:-
- The biological important part of this plant is the wood of the stem which is often misunderstood as pith.
- The wood of sola is among the lightest in the world which even feels lighter than a thermocol sheet.