Wattleido Quiz | Regional Botany

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. W - The native water lily Nymphaea violacea, from Australia, comes in three beautiful colours. Which is not one of them?

Answer: Pink

This type of water lily grows up to 30 cm high and can be found in Queensland and the northern part of Australia. - liannne

2. A - Anigozanthos manglesii is the floral emblem of Western Australia. What is its more common name?

Answer: Red and Green Kangaroo Paw

The Red and Green Kangaroo Paw is endemic to Western Australia and was made its State plant on 9th November, 1960. It is a desired garden plant, with showy flowers growing on stalks around 1200 mm high. It has been designated as protected and a licence is needed to collect it from the wild.

The Western Australia Christmas Tree is a hemiparasitic shrub from Western Australia. It has orange flowers during the Christmas season. It attaches its roots to other plants in order to steal water and nutrients.

The Royal Bluebell is the floral emblem of the Capital Territory.

The Common Heath Pink is the floral emblem of Victoria. - rhosyn.

3. T - Which of these options is the name for various tufted grasses found mostly in the southern hemisphere, and whose name is also a type of moth?

Answer: Tussock

Tussock refers to various types of grasses native mostly in the southern hemisphere, as well as being a word meaning "a tuft", and the name of a moth (tussock moth).

To learn about tussock grasses, a good place to start is the families to which they belong. One family is cyperaceae (e.g. button grass species from Tasmania). The other family is poaceae, which is also known as gramineae, also known as bunch grasses.

In the poaceae family are the majority of tussock grass genuses: chionochloa (snow tussock, red tussock); deschampsia (hair grass, tussock grass); heteropogon (tangleheads); nassella (Chilean needlegrass, serrated tussock); poa (common tussock-grass, grey tussock grass); joycea (red anther wallaby grass, silvertop wallaby grass).

There are two highly invasive species, endemic in Australia, but which came from South America. These are Chilean needle grass and serrated tussock. They were first identified in southern Australia in 1934. They are drought-resistant weeds which cannot be eaten by livestock and are very difficult to control.

The native species in Australia includes common tussock-grass, grey tussock grass, button grass, red anther wallaby grass and silvertop wallaby grass. These native grasslands are under constant threat from the invasive species mentioned.

Toucon, tinamou and tantalus are all birds. - Kenners158

4. T -Tecticornia Pergranulata or Blackseed Glasswort is usually found on the edges of salt lakes and swamps. What unique characteristic does it possess to survive flooding and the high saline levels of its habitat?.

Answer: The plant develops aquatic roots on the stem that take in oxygen from the water.

The Blackseed Glasswort's ability to use this method of survival is being studied in laboratories across Australia.
Like all glassworts, its ash consists of soda ash which is used in the making of glass and soap. - rhosyn.

5. L - There is a plant native to Australia with white flowers called Beard-heath. What is its botanical name? (Hint: think about the Greek words for "white" and "beard").

Answer: Leucopogon

There are nearly 160 species of Beard-heath. Its botanical name is Leucopogon. It is a perennial, evergreen flowering shrub (or small tree) which is native to different parts of Australia. It is of the family Ericaceae, which means these plants are heathers, so its common name, beard-heath, follows from this. The flowers are a beautiful white colour with petals which have a furry appearance like a white beard.

Now if we go back to the botanical name, this has its origins in Greek. "leukos" means "white" and "pogon" means "beard". - Kenners158

6. E - Eucalyptus saligna, one of many kinds of eucalyptus, is a highly endangered plant, and although they can live up to 200 years, humans are decimating these trees by cutting them. What is its more common name?

Answer: Sydney blue gum

Eucalyptus saligna belongs to the Myrtaceae family. The origin of the word comes from the greek words "eu" (well) and "kalyptos" (covered). Many birds get nectar from the tree, while in flower.

Gimlet gum is the common name of Eucalyptus salubris, steel box is the common name of Eucalyptus rummeryi, and Fremantle mallee is the common name of Eucalyptus foecunda.

Eucalyptus has more than 700 varieties. - Lpez

7. I - Native to the tropical rainforest region of North East Queensland, the Ivory Curl Tree derives its botanic name from which British nobility?

Answer: Duke of Buckingham

The Buckinghamia celsissima was named in Honour of the Duke of Buckingham, secretary to British Colonies from 1866-68. Whilst native to tropical Queensland, the Ivory Curl Tree has been a striking feature of the Botanic Gardens in many states for over 100 years. Its stunning cream flower spikes are delightfully fragranced, and very attractive to birds and bees. - sunset44

8. D - Darwinia is an evergreen bush, native to mainly Western Australia, and sadly many species of this plant are now considered to be endangered. What are its flowers better known as?

Answer: Mountain Bells

This plant is named after Charles Darwin, as was the town of that name in Australia. Neither Canterbury Bells nor Blue Bells are native to Australia as far as I know. Australian Bells I made up! - C30

9. O - Orchaceae or Orchids, as they are better known, are a large family of flowering plants, numbering up to 26,000 accepted species worldwide, but which of these Orchids is not native in the wild, in Australia?

Answer: Venus's slipper

Venus's Slippers aka Fairy Slippers are Calypso Orchids and are wide ranging Orchids found in the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Japan. They tend to favor sheltered areas on conifer forest floors. - ArthurR

10. The Golden Wattle is the Australian National Flower, it even has its own "day". True or False?

Answer: True

1st of September is officially "Golden Wattle Day". Also, it is the reason why Australian Sports teams usually play in a yellow/green color combination. -C30

Source: Author Lpez

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Wattleido Trivia Quiz

Triviabiz had an Australian team leader with the username of "Wattleido", although her real name was Flora. So here's a quiz spelling out her username about Australian flora. Good luck!

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>