White Wildflowers of the Eastern US Quiz / Test | Sci / Tech

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What little blooms show up in the fall, looking like tiny delicate daisies clustered on a knee-high plant? Other kinds are bluish purple.

Answer: aster

Bees love asters as a late plant, when other blooms are fading. Asters are perennials, coming back each year from the root. There are many kinds, including calico asters that have white blooms with yellow or red centers, looking like calico cloth. They've also been bred to display as garden plants, and have been reclassified many times by botanists.

2. A spring bloomer in woods, what flower has three large white petals, with three matching leaves below them on each plant? There's a variety with dark red petals too.

Answer: Trillium

Trilliums can cover a hillside with their welcoming spring blooms. They are perennials, but are easily damaged, so it's illegal to pick them in some states, and inadvisable in all. There are dozens of species, wild both in North America and Asia.

3. This spring bloomer, maybe 6-10" high, has a stalk with tiny white bells on it, that arcs up between its large leaves. People grow it in gardens too, but be careful--it's poisonous!

Answer: lily of the valley

The lily of the valley is poisonous, including the reddish-orange berries which appear after the blooms. It's native to Europe and Asia, and scientists think North Amerca also, but aren't sure. A few varieties are cultivated for gardens, including a pink one.

4. What thorny bush has white flowers on its purplish canes in late spring, then produces yummy dark, dark berries in midsummer that are great for pies or jam, or just eating raw?

Answer: blackberry

Blackberries may be shrubs, but their prolific white blooms are certainly flowers. Their canes stretch out into the sunshine of fields at the edge of woods. There are many similar wild varieties that interbreed, and many varieties bred for commercial production too, for larger berries, easier picking, or other attributes.

5. What is this wildflower, which blooms in midsummer in sunny fields? Each stalk, about 2 feet high, holds one or maybe two flat white umbrellas, 2-3" across, made up of miniscule blossoms. Its alternate name, not listed in the choices, labels it as an escaped food.

Answer: Queen Anne's lace

It's also called wild carrot, and really is related to the carrot one grows in the garden. It's native to Europe and Asia, but naturalized in North America. The root is supposedly tough and woody, not like eating an actual carrot, but more importantly, it closely resembles the extremely poisonous wildflower called poison hemlock, so it's not worth the worry of sampling a bite.

6. What strange pure white plant grows in the shade, 6-10" tall, especially in clumps under beech trees? It's fairly rare, gets nutrition without chlorophyl, and looks like its name.

Answer: indian pipes

You might think they're not really a flower, but indian pipes, also called ghost plant or corpse plant, get their nutrition from fungus, so they don't need green chlorophyl for photosynthesis. They're usually white, but may have a pink tinge. Each stem has a single flower, which forms the "bowl" of the "pipe."

7. What aquatic plant is named for the shape of its large leaves, which grow at the edge of ponds just above the surface of the water? It has blooms in midsummer, only about 1" across, each with three white petals

Answer: arrowhead

Arrowhead leaves are shaped like real arrowheads. The plant produces edible tubers that can be eaten like potatoes. They can be harvested in the fall by digging or kicking around the roots or using a pitchfork, and the loosened tubers will float to the surface,

8. What vine escaped and grows up trees at the edge of woods, blooming prolifically in early summer with some scattered blooms after? The sweet smell is strong and the flowers begin white, fading to yellow.

Answer: Japanese honeysuckle

Japanese honeysuckle was recommended for cultivation in the 19th Century, but it has decided it likes North America as well as Japan and grows freely up trees, or over roadside bushes. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, including the blue-black berries, but the nectar of the bloom can be tasted at the base of a picked flower.

9. What wildflower grows a couple feet high, with toothed leaves and small, ragged-looking white blooms with five petals? It's named after a rather unpleasant medicine.

Answer: American ipecac

This is a plant easy to miss. The early summer blooms always look as if they're about done for the season, with their floppy petals. The Latin name is Gillenia stipulata, but it's also called indian physic, a reference to the fact that the roots are good for causing vomiting, just like other ipecac. We'd classify that as poisonous today.

10. What little white wildflower, making a carpet of blooms in the woods in late spring, is most famous for the dramatic and unexpected color of its sap?

Answer: bloodroot

Bloodroot's pretty white flowers in the spring aren't nearly as interesting as the unexpected red "blood" that comes from the root when it's cut. In the past, it was used for medicinal purposes, but is now considered poisonous and use of the wild plants is discouraged, both to minimize danger to humans and to conserve the wild plants.

Source: Author littlepup

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
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White Wildflowers of the Eastern US Quiz

Big or small, spring, summer or fall, all these wildflowers or wild escapes in the eastern USA have white blossoms.

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