A teacher shows how Ibn Battuta made a strange plant familiar to readers who had never seen a coconut tree. To which tree did he say the coconut tree looked just like?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The date-palm
Option (1) The nutmeg tree — Incorrect. The nutmeg was used to describe the areca nut, which is broken into small pellets and chewed.
Option (2) The grape-vine — Incorrect. The grape-vine was used to describe how the betel was cultivated. Ibn Battuta did not use it for the coconut tree.
Option (3) The date-palm — Correct. Ibn Battuta compared the unfamiliar coconut tree with the date-palm, a tree his readers knew well. The only difference he saw was that one gives nuts and the other dates.
Option (4) The betel tree — Incorrect. The betel is the other unfamiliar plant Ibn Battuta described, a tree grown only for its leaves.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.1 The coconut and the paan … |