Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Fifty million years of evolution within the carrot family (Apiaceae) placed Daucus carota ssp. sativus at the zenith of the vegetable world. But what part of the carrot is durable enough to have 50,000,000 year old fossils?
2. "My granddad said that our earliest ancestors lived in a dry, mountainous region of Central Asia," explained my carrot friend, Sativa Carota. "We swept down on the unsuspecting parsnips of Persia to the east and the Indian subcontinent on the west from a country near Pakistan. But," Sativa admitted, "my geography's weak. What modern country sits between India and Iran other than Pakistan?"
3. The human oppression of carrots stretches back as far as recorded human history. Merodach-Baladan reportedly imprisoned carrots in his garden in the 8th century BCE. Of what well-known Babylonian king was Merodach-Baladan said to be the grandfather?
4. Throughout history, the properties that men have ascribed to carrots have demonstrated the fertility of human imagination. In the 5th century BCE, for what medicinal use did Hippocrates encourage the women of Greece to make of innocent, unborn carrot seeds? (Hint: think ironically.)
5. In the first century AD, the depraved Roman Emperor Caligula is said to have put innocent carrots to a perverse use in a plot against the Senate. What did the randy Caligula hope to accomplish?
6. The bright orange color of the modern cultivated carrot is the result of patriotic experiments carried out in the 1600s intended to honor William of Orange, the leader of a country that was then trying to gain independence from Spain. Which country was that?
7. Carrots were thought important enough that the first permanent European settlers in North America cultivated them. With which settlement did the North American cultivation of carrots begin?
8. The first Australian colonists also recognized the value of carrots and began planting them within two weeks of their arrival. In what year did this historic planting occur?
9. While old world carrots were enslaved for cultivation, native North American carrots roamed wild and free. The native American wild carrot, Daucus pusillus, is also termed rattlesnake weed. Historically what has been the association between the plant and rattlesnakes?
10. Carrots have played an important role in the entertainment industry, being the favored food of a certain "rascally rabbit". Reports differ as to whether Mel Blanc, the original voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots, disliked them or both. What is certain is that Mel could not sound like Bugs with his mouth stuffed with carrots. What expediency did Mel Blanc utilize to allow him to speak with Bug's voice after chomping on a carrot?
Source: Author
uglybird
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bloomsby before going online.
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