Q 01/05

In Nix v. Hedden (1893), the US Supreme Court ruled that for tariff purposes tomatoes are what?

A) Vegetables

B) Berries

C) Spices

D) Grains

Answer · why

A) Vegetables

Vegetables, unanimously: the justices agreed tomatoes are botanically fruits but said the tariff law used everyday meaning, and tomatoes are served wi...

Q 02/05

The likely wild ancestor of the tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, is native to which region?

A) The Nile Delta

B) Western South America

C) The Iberian Peninsula

D) The Yangtze basin

Answer · why

B) Western South America

Western South America: Solanum pimpinellifolium, the currant tomato, grows wild along the coasts of Peru and Ecuador, and Spanish ships carried the do...

Q 03/05

Widespread infections of what forced the Gros Michel banana to be replaced by the Cavendish?

A) Black sigatoka

B) Bunchy top virus

C) Panama disease

D) Moko wilt

Answer · why

C) Panama disease

Panama disease, a soil-borne Fusarium fungus, wiped out Gros Michel plantations by the 1950s; its Tropical Race 4 strain later began attacking the rep...

Q 04/05

Cavendish bananas take their name from William Cavendish, who held which English title?

A) Earl of Sandwich

B) Marquess of Bath

C) Viscount Melbourne

D) Duke of Devonshire

Answer · why

D) Duke of Devonshire

Duke of Devonshire: William Cavendish, the 6th Duke, had his head gardener Joseph Paxton grow the plants at Chatsworth House, where Paxton described t...

Q 05/05

Bananas are very slightly radioactive because of which naturally occurring isotope?

A) Potassium-40

B) Carbon-14

C) Radium-226

D) Iodine-131

Answer · why

A) Potassium-40

Potassium-40 is a natural radioactive isotope within the potassium bananas are rich in; the informal 'banana equivalent dose' of about 0.1 microsiever...