Colours from the Plant Kingdom Quiz

Answer: olive

Olive is a dark, yellowish green that resembles the colour of unripe olives. Besides blue and yellow, the main components of green, olive contains a touch of red; it sits between green and yellow on the colour wheel. Olive can also refer to a medium (i.e. neither fair nor dark) tone of human skin, with slight yellow undertones. Native to the Mediterranean region, the olive tree can live for thousands of years. Its leaves are a silvery-green colour, while its fruits are green when unripe, and dark purple when ripe.

Olive comes in a number of variations, such as the dark, grayish black olive and the brownish olive drab, which is widely used for military uniforms (especially those meant for camouflage). Being almost neutral, it is a very versatile colour that pairs well with both bright and more subdued shades.

Answer: mint

Mint is one of the most common and popular aromatic herbs, used for culinary, cosmetic and medicinal purposes. The shade of green named after the herb, reminiscent of the colour of its leaves, is regarded as a variation of spring green, a hue as cool and refreshing as the flavour of the herb itself, containing more blue than yellow.

The word "mint" for this particular shade of green was first used in the 1920, when mint became one of the key colours of the Art Deco movement. At that time, mint was used for everything from cars to bathroom fixtures, often in combination with black - an extremely stylish pairing. Mint resurfaced as a favourite colour for interior decoration in the 1950s.

Answer: cornflower

Cornflower is a light-to-medium shade of blue with just a hint of green. Now also cultivated as an ornamental plant, cornflower is often found as a weed in fields where grains are grown. This flower owes its beautiful colour to a pigment called protocyanin, which is also responsible for the red of roses. In France, the cornflower ("bleuet") is associated with remembrance, just like the poppy, another flower which grows wild in fields (which has given its name to a vivid shade of red) in the UK.

In painting, cornflower blue can be obtained by mixing ultramarine blue (an expensive pigment made by grinding lapis lazuli to a powder) with just a little white. The turban worn by the subject of the famous 17th-century painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" pairs cornflower blue and yellow - a cool, elegant shade complemented by a warm, sunny one - to stunning effect. Cornflower blue is also the most prized colour variety of sapphire.

Answer: fuchsia

Fuchsia is a vivid, reddish-purple (or purplish-pink) colour, which some colour models regard as identical to magenta. In fact, the aniline dye patented in 1859 that later became known as magenta - after the battle that took place in the same year near the Italian town of the same name - was originally named fuchsine. Fuchsia and fuchsine are named after the flowers of the fuchsia plant, a genus of flowering plants mainly native to South America, characterized by their teardrop-shaped, gorgeously coloured flowers.

As a colour name, fuchsia entered English in the 1890s, when bold, unusual colours were popular in fashion and art. The 1970s were another golden age for fuchsia and its variations - which range from the vivid French fuchsia (more red than purple) to the darker, more subdued antique fuchsia. In that decade, fuchsia was widely used in fashion and interior decoration, often paired with other bright colours such as orange or lime green.

Answer: ebony

Named after the highly prized hardwood of the tropical ebony tree, ebony is an opaque variation (rather than a shade, which would not be an accurate term when speaking of black or white) of black with a brownish (or sometimes olive) tinge; it might be also regarded as the darkest shade of brown. Ebony acquires a glossy finish when polished - as when it is used to make the keys of pianos and organs, the body of woodwind instruments such as the clarinet or the oboe, or black chess pieces.

Being synonymous with blackness, ebony is also associated with African-American culture. "Ebony" is the name of a magazine founded in 1945, while the dialect of English spoken by African-Americans was named "Ebonics" in 1973.

Answer: raspberry

Raspberry is a vivid shade of pinkish-red that resembles the colour of the beloved summer fruit. The use of raspberry as a color name goes back to the 1890s. In the hexadecimal code used in web design, raspberry comes in a number of variations (which also exist in the actual fruit), such as the deeper French raspberry ("framboise") or the purplish-red dark raspberry.

A notable use of raspberry as a colour is the title of the 1985 Prince song "Raspberry Beret", which contributed to the colour's popularity as a fashion statement. Another fruit-related shade of reddish-pink, cerise, bears the French name of the cherry: however, it contains more pink than raspberry does. These appealingly fruity colours are widely employed in the cosmetic industry as names for shades of lipstick, blusher and nail polish.

Answer: lavender

Lavender is named after the lovely purple shade of lavender flowers, which bloom abundantly in the drier, warmer regions of Eurasia. The beautiful lavender fields of southern France are justly renowned all the world over. The name lavender comes from the Latin "lavare", meaning to wash; this association with cleanliness is reinforced by the widespread use of lavender essential oil in soaps and other toiletries, as well as household and laundry detergents.

The standard lavender colour is called floral lavender - a 50/50 combination of white and purple - as it is the closest to the actual shade of the flowers. As a web colour, lavender is considerably paler, matching the colour of the lightest part of the flower. Lavender also comes in a wide range of variations that go from grey-tinged to pink-tinged. Some of these shades are also named after flowers - notably periwinkle (lavender blue) and wisteria (light lavender).

Answer: mahogany

The wood of the mahogany tree, native to the tropical Americas, is highly prized for its durability and its rich, reddish-brown colour. Mahogany was adopted in English as a colour name in the 1730s, a time when mahogany trade from the Caribbean colonies to Britain was at its highest point. Even if trade is now strictly regulated, the mahogany's importance for the economies of those territories has not been forgotten, as it has been declared the national tree of the Dominican Republic and Belize.

As a shade of brown, mahogany has warm red undertones similar to those of another plant-related colour, chestnut (which, however, is generally darker). In the cosmetic industry, mahogany (like chestnut) often refers to a warm shade of reddish-brown hair. Mahogany can also be regarded as a shade of red or orange.

Answer: mustard

Mustard is the name commonly given to various plants of the cabbage family. Though their flowers are typically yellow, the colour mustard is named after the condiment made by grinding these plants' small, round seeds with water or vinegar. When ground, mustard seeds yield a pale yellow powder; prepared mustard can be bright yellow (generally due to the addition of turmeric) or a more subdued, brownish-yellow shade - as in the case of Dijon mustard. The parable of the mustard seed appears in all three synoptic Gospels.

As a colour, mustard is a dark, dull shade of yellow, similar to other plant-inspired shades such as flax (which has more of a greyish tint) and the paler jasmine. In some versions of the colour wheel, mustard lies opposite to navy blue, with which it pairs extremely well.

Answer: peach

As a colour, peach is a delicate, pastel shade that blends orange, yellow and white. It is generally paler than either the skin or the flesh of actual peaches: the former tends to be a deeper orange-pink, while the latter can be pinkish-yellow or whitish. While similar to apricot, peach contains a bit more yellow than orange. It is also identified with the complexion of White/Caucasian people: in 1962, the Crayola crayon colour formerly known as "flesh" was changed to "peach" to acknowledge the differences in skin colour that exist in the human race.

Being almost a neutral colour, with a warm, soft tone, peach is a popular colour for interior decoration. In the Art Deco period, it was one of the favourite choices for stunning wallpapers with bold geometric patterns. Peach pairs well with both dark and bright colours, especially blues and blue-greens.