Arboreal Tutorial Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rowan Atkinson

The rowan tree, also known as the mountain ash, grows in cooler climates throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Its fruit can be used to make a coffee like drink and is also used to flavour liqueurs and some ales. The surname Rowntree, as in the confectionery company, is a derivative of "rowan tree", although as yet, there are no records of the tree producing chocolate bars.

Answer: Willow

Willow is a very versatile tree. Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about the medicinal qualities of the leaves and bark, which can offer temporary relief from pain in much the same way as Aspirin and because it is such a pliable wood, it has been used in the manufacture of fishing nets, woven baskets and coracle boats.

It is also the wood used for the construction of cricket bats as it is able to absorb the high impact of a cricket ball.

Answer: Holly Golightly

Holly is often associated with Christmas and is used as a decoration in wreaths, seen on Christmas cards and sung about in the song "The Holly and the Ivy". Christianity is not the only faith associated with holly as the Druids consider it sacred in Wicca; the Holly King is one of the dual aspects of The Horned God, the other being the Oak King.

Answer: Hearts of Oak

Oak, which as the famous quote correctly tells us grow from tiny acorns, is the national tree of U.S.A., England, Wales, France and Jordan as well as many other countries. Its wood is used in the manufacture of barrels for whiskies, wines and sherry and the bark is used in the tanning of leather. Acorns can be used to make a coffee substitute, although there is no evidence that this was drunk at one of the most famous oak trees in U.K., the Major Oak in Nottinghamshire, meeting place of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

Answer: Jim Alder

Alder wood is excellent for making furniture and kitchen cabinets and is also used to smoke seafood including salmon. Fender guitars are also made mainly of alder and have been since 1956 as it is a dense, lightweight wood that gives a balanced tone.

Answer: Hazel O'Connor

Along with willow, hazel is used to make woven baskets and coracle boats due to its pliability. Hazel trees also give us hazelnuts which apart from being delicious, were believed by ancient Celts to give wisdom and play an important part in the Gaelic legend of Fionn Mac Cumhail or Finn McCool. According to the legend, salmon lived in a pool surrounded by hazel trees and feasted on the nuts that dropped into the pool absorbing the wisdom from the nuts.

When one of the salmon was caught, Fionn Mac Cumhail was told to cook it and whilst doing so a blister formed on the fish. Mac Cumhail used his thumb to burst the blister and then sucked his thumb to cool it, thereby absorbing all of the wisdom from the fish.

Answer: Mick Box

Box trees are small trees which grow in Europe, Africa, Asia and South and Central America and are ideal for decorative hedges. Box is favoured by the wood carving community as it doesn't split or chip easily and is often used to make chessmen or other decorative pieces.

The pipes on Scottish bagpipes were made of boxwood until the 19th century when more exotic woods became freely available such as ebony and African blackwood.

Answer: Thora Birch

Birch wood is the wood of choice for longboard skateboards due to its flexibility and light weight and although the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat was known as "The Spruce Goose", it was actually made almost entirely from birch. A birch rod, which was a bundle of twigs tied together, was used for a corporal punishment known as "birching", in which the bare buttocks of the transgressor were whipped with the bundle. Birching was a judicial penalty on Isle of Man until it was repealed in 1993, although the last birching took place 17 years earlier in 1976.

Answer: Mike Hawthorn

Hawthorns, also known as May trees, are a smaller tree, often used for hedges around agricultural land. The fruit, or haws, can be used to make wine and the young leaves can be used in cooking, often in a salad. Hawthorn wood is very hard and is often used as tool handles and the tree itself is favoured by bonsai growers.

Answer: Ash

The ash can be found across most of Europe, Asia and North America and its strong elastic properties make it ideal for manufacturing archery bows and baseball bats. Natal Drum, Gretsch and many other drum manufacturers also use ash for making drum shells because of these qualities.