Water Lilies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Giverny

Giverny is a village on the right bank of the Seine River, in the French department of Eure, 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Paris. Famed Impressionist painter Claude Monet settled there in 1883, eventually buying the house where he had moved with his family. The lily pond for which the gardens are famous was created in 1893; Monet dedicated most of the following 20 years to painting the pond, its pretty Japanese bridge and the waterlilies, producing a series of about 250 paintings. In 1966, Monet's son Michel left the property to the Académie des Beaux-Arts before dying in a car crash; in 1980, the house and gardens became a museum. Monet's "Water Lilies" can be admired in many of the world's major art collections.

All the incorrect answers are places associated with Impressionist or Post-Impressionist painters: Renoir (Guernsey, which is a dependency of the British Crown), Seurat (Asnières) and Van Gogh (both Arles and Asnières).

Answer: Denmark

The stylized leaf of a water lily, called "Seeblatt" ("lake leaf" in German; plural form is "Seeblätter"), is used as a heraldic charge in Germany, The Netherlands and Scandinavia. Besides the Danish coat of arms, these emblems - usually red in colour, and similar to hearts in appearance - appear on the flag of the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia), and on some Danish coins. On the Danish coat of arms, three Seeblätter accompany each of the three blue crowned lions depicted on the first and fourth quarter of the shield. Estonia's coat of arms also bears three blue lions, but no lily pads.

The amusement park referenced in the question is Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark's national capital. All the other countries mentioned as incorrect answers are republics.

Answer: Pisces

The Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Waterlilies are associated with Neptune, Pisces' ruler. Those born under the sign of Pisces (19 February - 20 March), the 12th sign of the zodiac, are said to privilege their spiritual side. Waterlilies, which symbolize beauty, enlightenment and purity, float on water, but their roots reach under water: they live between two worlds and adapt to their environment, just like those born under the sign of Pisces straddle the physical and the spiritual world.

Gemini is an Air sign, Sagittarius a Fire sign, and Virgo an Earth sign.

Answer: Sri Lanka

Nymphaea nouchali, the blue waterlily, is native to southern and eastern Asia, where it is often grown in ponds and gardens. Its common names of "star lotus" or "blue star water lily" come from the shape of the long, angular petals, which give the open flowers a starlike shape; however, the flowers can also be white, mauve, purple or fuchsia. The blue waterlily is the national flower of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, both countries where this flower grows in the wild; the plant's leaves and rhizomes can be used as food.

Though located in the Indian Ocean (unlike Taiwan and the Philippines), the island nation of Mauritius is considered part of Africa.

Answer: Victoria

Victoria amazonica is found in shallow waters of the Amazon River basin. With huge leaves that can reach a diameter of 3 m (9.8 ft), supported by submerged stalks up to 8 m (26 ft) long, and large flowers that turn from white to pink after opening, it is an impressive plant that is grown in many of the world's botanic gardens. It was originally named Victoria regia ("royal Victoria") - after the young queen who had just ascended to the British throne - by English botanist John Lindley, who first described the plant in 1837. The elaborately ribbed underside of the giant leaves is said to have inspired the design of London's Crystal Palace.

Victoria amazonica is the national flower of Guyana, formerly British Guiana, from where the first specimens were brought to the UK. A smaller species of Victoria, V. cruziana, grows in the Paraná-Paraguay basin, especially in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland area.

Answer: Egyptians

Both the blue (Nymphaea caerulea) and the white Egyptian lotus (Nymphaea lotus) are true waterlilies (genus Nymphaea), while the Indian lotus belongs to the genus Nelumbo. Depictions of these beautiful flowers, native to Egypt and East Africa, are frequent in Egyptian art, both in carvings and paintings and as decorative elements on the capitals of columns; the hieroglyph for the flower was used to represent the number 1,000.

The white lotus was also cultivated for various ornamental purposes; remains of the flower have been found in the tomb of Ramesses II, one of Ancient Egypt's greatest kings.

The Egyptian lotus also had a religious significance, symbolizing creation, fertility and the cycle of the sun, as the flowers close at night and open in the morning.

Answer: padma

The Indian, or sacred, lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is called "padma" in Sanskrit. In the Hindu religion, this beautiful flower (which can live for over 1,000 years) symbolizes immortality and divine perfection. It is identified with the god Vishnu, the Preserver, and his consort, Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, who is often represented seated on a lotus, or holding lotus flowers in her hands. Vishnu is often depicted with a lotus sprouting from his navel, holding Brahma, the Creator. In Buddhism, the lotus represents purity, as it rises above muddy water. The lotus has also been adopted as a symbol by the Baha'i faith, and their house of worship in New Delhi is known as the Lotus Temple. The name "Padma" is widely used for girls in India; those who practice yoga will be familiar with "padmasana", the lotus position, a sitting meditation pose.

The three incorrect choices are also Sanskrit words with religious associations: "chakra" denotes one of the body's focal points, "karma" is synonymous with fate as the result of a person's actions, and "mantra" is a word or sound repeated as an aid to meditation.

Answer: Odysseus

In Book IX of Homer's "Odyssey", Odysseus tells his hosts, King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, how his twelve ships, while heading towards Ithaca, were driven by storms from the southern tip of the Peloponnese to an island inhabited by the Lotophagi, the Lotus-eaters. These people spent their days in a peaceful torpor, caused by their habit of eating the fruits and flowers of the "Lotus tree", a plant whose identity is uncertain. Some of Odysseus' crew members ate the fruits, and lost any interest in going back home - so that the hero had to drag them back to the ships. The mysterious Lotus tree has been identified with various plants that grow in the Mediterranean region; a likely candidate is Nymphaea caerulea (see Q.6), which contains the alkaloid aporphine, a psychoactive substance that can be used a mild sedative.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters" (published in 1932) was inspired by this episode of "The Odyssey".

Answer: Ayurveda

Unlike other trendy forms of alternative medicine, Ayurveda (Sanskrit for "knowledge of life and longevity") is an ancient tradition that, according to some scholars, may have originated in prehistoric times. In the earliest Sanskrit works on the subject, Ayurveda is described as having eight components, and emphasizing balance rather than suppression of natural urges. What makes Ayurveda so attractive in modern times its is holistic approach, and a lot of the tenets of this system make indeed a lot of sense in terms of promoting overall health and well-being. Ayurvedic treatments can be based on plant, animal and mineral products. The star lotus (Q.3), known as "utpala" in Sanskrit, is used in Ayurvedic medicine mainly as an anti-inflammatory, while the Indian lotus is often used to treat bleeding disorders and diarrhea.

Shiatsu and Reiki are both forms of energy medicine from Japan; acupuncture is an important component of Chinese traditional medicine.

Answer: Hans Christian Andersen

"Thumbelina" ("Tommelise" in the Danish original) was published at the end of 1835 as part of the second instalment of Hans Christian Andersen's "Fairy Tales Told for Children". In the story (inspired by folk tales such as "Tom Thumb"), Thumbelina is a tiny girl born from a barleycorn, who goes through many adventures with various animals before finally marrying a tiny flower-fairy prince.

When she is carried off by a toad that wants her to marry her son, and left on a large waterlily pad in a stream, she manages to escape with the help of some fish, which gnaw away the waterlily's stem, allowing it to drift down the stream. "Thumbelina" has been adapted into a number of animation films; the character appears briefly (together with Tom Thumb, her male counterpart) in the movie "Shrek 2" (2004).