Q 01/05

Which of these fruits do botanists class as a true berry?

A) Peach

B) Banana

C) Apricot

D) Cherry

Answer · why

B) Banana

Banana plants bear what botanists call a leathery berry, because the whole fruit grows from the ovary of a single flower. The plant itself is a giant ...

Q 02/05

Which botanical berry did the US Supreme Court rule a vegetable in 1893, in a dispute over import tariffs?

A) Cucumber

B) Eggplant

C) Tomato

D) Bell pepper

Answer · why

C) Tomato

Tomato importers argued it was a fruit to escape a tax on vegetables. The court accepted the botany but ruled on the everyday meaning of the word, so ...

Q 03/05

Which fruit was known as the Chinese gooseberry until exporters renamed it in 1959?

A) Kiwifruit

B) Lychee

C) Persimmon

D) Rambutan

Answer · why

A) Kiwifruit

Kiwifruit got its name after a US client warned that anything called a gooseberry might struggle in quarantine. By 1970 every New Zealand export carri...

Q 04/05

The specks dotted over a strawberry's skin, which most people take for seeds, are really what?

A) Hardened pollen sacs

B) Unripe flower buds

C) Leftover petal bases

D) Tiny dry fruits

Answer · why

D) Tiny dry fruits

Tiny dry fruits called achenes cover the outside, each with one seed inside. The juicy red part is the swollen base of the flower, which is why botani...

Q 05/05

Why do cranberry growers flood their fields at harvest time, before machines knock the ripe berries off the vines?

A) They swell

B) They float

C) They soften

D) They darken

Answer · why

B) They float

They float, so workers can corral the loose berries into a corner of the flooded bed and pump them out. The low, creeping vines are only under water t...