The long, bell-shaped flowers of the Yellow Corydalis
To those of you who are worried that someone has already had a bash at the answer to the quiz, can I reassure you that the first person to post isn’t necessarily the one with all the right answers? Also, if you have a better idea for how to provide the answers I’m happy to receive suggestions…
Dear Readers, many of you requested a plant quiz this week, so how could I refuse? All the plants in today’s quiz can be found within a mile of my house, and many of them can be found on several continents, so maybe it will give my non-UK readers a chance. Please include the Latin name if you know it (plants have so many different local names and I don’t want any fisticuffs). We’ll start with an ID quiz, and then I’ll be asking some random questions about the plants in the pictures. Let’s begin! I shall publish the answers on Tuesday to give you a chance to get properly stuck in. Put your answers in the comments by 5 p.m. on Monday (UK time) if you want me to give you a mark, but feel free to play along anyway.
1.
2. (The white flower)
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Not what you might think!
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
And here are some additional questions for those of you with stamina! The answer to each question is one of the plants shown above, and you can find the answers in the Wednesday Weed for each species.
16. Which plant has proved efficacious in the treatment of migraine?
17. Which plant has smooth leaves at the top and prickly leaves at the bottom, and why?
18. Which plant was Wordsworth’s favourite flower?
19. Which plant is the foodplant for the orange-tip butterfly?
20. Which plant got its common name from the blessing ‘Benedictus’?
21. Which plant has leaves that taste of cucumber?
22. Which plant was described thus, in 1913:
‘In bushy places, common; and a most mischievous weed in gardens, not only exhausting the soil with its roots, but strangling with its twining stems the plants that grow nearby’.
23. Which plant is also known as ‘pissenlit’ because of its diuretic qualities?
24. Which plant generates its own heat, to entice insects to pollinate it?
25. The seedheads of which plant were believed to be used as hairbrushes by the Banshees in the folklore of Ireland?
26. Which plant is closely related to chamomile?
27. Which plant is described thus, and is the County Plant of Berkshire?
‘White flowers hanging in severe purity from long stems’.
28.Which plant is the larval foodplant of the holly blue butterfly, and has been described as ‘the most divisive wild plant in the UK’?
29. Which plant is also known as ‘purple archangel’?
30. Which plant is ‘always green’ although its flowers are blue?
1, Geum, Wood Avens
2, Convolvulus, Bindweed
3, Feverfew
4, Chamomile
5, Arum maculatum
6, Hedera Helix
7, Green Alkanet
8, Ilex, Holly
9, Lamium purpureum, Red Dead Nettle
10, Leucojum
11, Lesser Celandine
12,Dipsacus, Teasel
13, Alliaria, Jack by the Hedge
14, Dandelion
15, Borage
16, Feverfew
17, Holly
18, Lesser Celandine
19, Alliaria
20, Wood Avens
21, Borage
22, Bindweed
23, Dandelion
24, Arum
25, Teasel
26, Daisy
27, Leucojum
28, Hedera
29, Lamium
30, Green Alkanet
Boring when 2 smarta#ses answer every question before anyone else gets a chance !!
Thanks for taking the time to put up the questions though 🙂
Doesn’t mean they’re right Neo and you don’t have to read them! I asked people to put the answers in the comments so they haven’t done anything wrong…
They are smart, they read the instructions! The whole point of the the quiz is you post your answers here, then get marked. They are literally right at the bottom of the page after the quiz, so you can’t see the answers unless you scroll all the way down.
it is quite a tricky one, so don’t worry if you can’t get it all. Answer what you can, and you can read the responses, compare answers and hopefully learn from some talented gardeners.
Thanks to Bug Woman for the quiz.
Lovely flowers!
Thanks for this quiz!
1, Wood Avens – Herb Bennet
2, Convolvulus, Bindweed
3, Feverfew
4, Pineapple weed. Matricaria discoidea
5, Cukoo-pint, Lords & Ladies
6, Ivy
7, Green Alkanet
8, Holly
9, Red Dead Nettle
10, Summer Snowflake Leucojum Aestivum
11, Lesser Celandine
12,Teasel
13, Hedge Mustard, Jack by the Hedge
14, Dandelion
15, Borage
16, Feverfew
17, Holly
18, Lesser Celandine
19, Hedge Mustard
20, Wood Avens
21, Borage
22, Bindweed
23, Dandelion
24, Cukoo-pint
25, Teasel
26, Pineapple Weed, Matricaria discoidea
27, Summer Snowflake, Leucojum Aestivum
28, Holly – (trick question but you don’t have any ivy!)_
29, Red Deadnettle
30, Green Alkanet
Sorry about not including “proper” names. These plant names are mostly well established!
These are ‘weeds’? Your quiz is great.
This was a great quiz! I tried not to cheat too much – in the end I liked Fearn’s answers
I intended to do some gardening this afternoon – but this quiz proved so absorbing that I haven’t ventured outside yet! Here are my answers:
1 Herb bennet (Geum urbanum)
2 Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
3 Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)
4 Pineapple mayweed (Matricaria discoidea)
5 Cuckoo pint (Aram maculatum)
6 Ivy (Hedera helix)
7 Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)
8 Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
9 Purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
10 Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)
11 Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)
12 Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)
13 Garlic mustard (Allaria petiolata)
14 Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis)
15 Borage (Borago officinalis)
16 Feverfew
17 Herb bennet
18 Lesser celandine
19 Garlic mustard
20 Holly – the spiky leaves at the bottom protect the plant from grazing animals and improve its chances of bearing fruit and therefore reproducing
21 Borage
22 Hedge bindweed
23 Dandelion
24 Cuckoo pint
25 Teasel
26 Pineapple mayweed
27 Summer snowflake
28 Ivy
29 Purple deadnettle
30 Green alkanet
OK here are my guesses. I was pleased to see I did know most of them – common names anyway – though I didn’t feel so confident in the second half of the quiz.
1. Herb Bennett or Wood Avens (Geum urbanum).
2. Bindweed (Convolvulus)
3. Chamomile
4.
5. Lords and Ladies or Cuckoo Pint
6. Ivy (Hedera helix)
7. Green Alkanet
8. Holly (Ilex ?)
9. Purple deadnettle (Lamium ?)
10. Three-cornered leek
11. Celandine
12. Teasel
13. Jack by the Hedge or Garlic Mustard
14. Dandelion
15. Comfrey
16. Comfrey
17.
18. Celandine
19. Jack by the hedge
20-22
23. Dandelion
24.
25. Teasel
26.
27. Three-cornered leek?
28-29
30. Alkanet?
Ah, recounting these I think you got about 15 in total 🙂 but that’s still a lot more than most people would have got! Thank you for having a go, I’ve learned so much through writing this blog.