Q 01/05

Hyperion, a California tree more than 115 metres high, is the world's tallest known living example of which species?

A) Coast redwood

B) Giant sequoia

C) Douglas fir

D) Sitka spruce

Answer · why

A) Coast redwood

Coast redwood is the species, and Hyperion was only found in 2006, in a remote corner of a national park. Rangers closed the area in 2022 after visito...

Q 02/05

Six ginkgo trees near the blast survived the atomic bomb dropped in 1945 on which Japanese city?

A) Nagasaki

B) Yokohama

C) Hiroshima

D) Kitakyushu

Answer · why

C) Hiroshima

Hiroshima's ginkgos were charred by the blast but were soon healthy again. Japan calls such survivor trees hibakujumoku, and signs mark each one at it...

Q 03/05

Juniper berries, really fleshy conifer cones rather than true fruit, give which spirit its signature flavour?

A) Rum

B) Gin

C) Ouzo

D) Vodka

Answer · why

B) Gin

Gin is flavoured with juniper cones picked fully grown but unripe, while cooks prefer the ripe, dark ones. They are among the very few spices that com...

Q 04/05

Welwitschia, a desert gymnosperm that can live for many centuries, only ever grows how many leaves?

A) Two

B) Six

C) Twenty

D) Sixty

Answer · why

A) Two

Two leaves are all it ever makes, and they keep growing from the base for as long as the plant lives. Weather splits them into ribbons, so an old plan...

Q 05/05

Which gem, sometimes found with ancient insects sealed inside, is the fossilised resin of prehistoric trees?

A) Jet

B) Garnet

C) Amber

D) Jade

Answer · why

C) Amber

Amber starts as soft, sticky resin, much of it from ancient conifers, which is how animals and plants end up sealed inside. The oldest pieces holding ...