Trees Represent Countries Trivia Quiz

Answer: Maple

The maple tree has been and continues to be commercially, environmentally, and aesthetically important to the Canadian people. Canada proclaimed the maple tree as "national arboreal emblem" on April 25, 1996. With this decree, the tree joined its instantly recognizable leaf, centralized on the Canadian flag in 1961, as an official national symbol. Long before that, both tree and leaf were closely and powerfully associated with the country.

The first European visitors to Canada found aboriginal peoples harvesting sap from the vast tracts of maples, and learned to do the same.

By the 1700s, French Canadians along the St. Lawrence River had adopted the leaf as their emblem. The first mayor of Montreal, Jaques Viger, reinforced the symbolism while speaking to the first Societe Saint Jean-Baptiste meeting in 1834: "(This tree is) the king of our forest,...the symbol of the Canadian people." If alive today, he'd surely be pleased to see an Air Canada jet, take in a hockey game, view his pocket change, or go into just about any store in Canada.

The maple leaf is everywhere!

Answer: Cedar

In this case, the scientific name is straightforward. Cedrus Libani or Cedar of Lebanon, is the country's national emblem, a hardy conifer which can be seen countrywide in forests, gardens and parks. This stately evergreen can grow to a height of 40 meters.

A likeness of the tree appears in green on the national flag, and it's also the logo for Middle East Airlines, the nation's air carrier. Cedar wood is prized for its durability, beauty and resistance to insect damage. The essential oil and the resin extracted from the cones and the wood are likewise valued for healing properties and their wonderful aroma.

Answer: Bamboo

The country of Vietnam has been through a lot of interference from outside, supposedly more enlightened, nations in its long history. One can imagine their beloved bamboo forests crying out in protest as first the French cleared land for their large scale colonial settlements in the 19th century; and later as United States pilots dumped millions of tons of the defoliant "Agent Orange" on the land in a misguided and ultimately unsuccessful effort to reduce ground cover, better spot the enemy, and rid the jungle and the country of Communists. Somehow, the bamboo survived and thrived, continually providing shelter, food, clothing, tools, musical instruments and more to the industrious and resourceful native population. All Vietnamese children grow up with folktales about the bamboo tree, a tree definitely intertwined with the cultural and artistic life of Vietnam and its people.

Answer: Olive

What olive lover doesn't know and love Greek olives? Fruit trees in general flourish in the climate of Greece, and olive groves are ubiquitous. Systematic cultivation of the original wild olive trees in what is now Greece dates back to the stone age and prehistory.

The Peloponnese, Crete, Aegean Islands, and Ionian Islands are the prime growing area for Greek olives. Greece ranks third behind Spain and Italy in olive oil production, but has the highest percentage (65%) of its oil rated "extra virgin." Olea Europaea is the botanical name of this tree, which is naturalized in every Mediterranean coastal country, and also cultivated worldwide in mild climates.

Answer: Banyan

Ficus Benghalensis, also known as the Banyan Fig and the Indian Banyan, is native to the Indian subcontinent. Considered sacred in India, the tree is unusual in that it can grow multiple trunks, can spread a thick canopy over a wide area, and also puts roots vertically down to the ground from its branches. Such a collection of multiple trunks, called a "clonal colony," still is considered to be one tree, even if the original trunk dies out.

This is the case with the so-called "Great Banyan" in the Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden near Kolkata.

It's surrounded by a 330 meter circular road and fence, but it continues to grow outward. Thimmamma Mirrimanu is another Indian Banyan tree, listed by Guinness World Records as the world's largest. Its canopy covers over 19,000 square meters. Research suggests that fewer than 150 of these wondrous specimens are left in India, although the species can be found in many other parts of the world, including Australia, Hawaii and Florida.

Answer: Cherry

Many cities the world over feature and appreciate the phenomenal spring beauty of cherry blossoms, and honor them with festivals, but no one does it like Japan, where the cherry tree and its flower are basically worshipped as national treasures. The Japanese cherry (Prunus serrulata), known in that country as 'sakura,' is one of several trees in the genus that produce these amazingly full yet delicate blossoms. Each year, the Japanese weather service forecasts and then announces the beginning of the blooming season in January, usually in Okinawa in the south of Japan. Moving gradually northward, each community experiences and celebrates the bursting forth of blooms with 'hanami,' a ritual started many centuries ago. Thousands of individuals plan and participate in elaborate picnic excursions sitting beneath their beloved trees. By March, Tokyo's trees are in bloom, followed soon after by the remainder of the country.

In 1912, Japan affirmed their growing bond with America by sending a gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees, enabling Washington, D.C. to have their own hugely popular cherry blossom festival each spring.

Answer: Baobab

This fat-trunked wonder is native to only Madagascar and northwestern Australia, but is common in Senegal and other areas of African with dry, grassland climates. Unbelievably, carbon dating has found still living baobab trees that are over 6,000 years old, older than the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx. Calling the baobab a multi-use tree is an understatement. Fruit, seeds, and bark are all used as a food source.

The bark has medicinal purposes, and legend holds that the tree is a source of fertility or can induce abortion.

In spite of this, many consider the tree worthless because its gnarled growth pattern and wood composition make it unusable for furniture, and as a result it is rarely cut down. Most interesting are the folklore and stories explaining its strange appearance.

These legends generally include some version of a creator getting fed up with the tree for wandering or complaining, then tossing it skyward or turning it upside down so its head stuck in the ground and its roots were in the air. Look at one and you'll see why.

Answer: Oak

Befitting the independent-mindedness of the United states and its people, each state has its own symbolic tree, but the mighty oak is a fitting symbol for the country as a whole. Oak wood is remarkable for its density, which means a strength and hardness ideally suited for all manner of building and construction uses.

The oak has long been revered in the USA, but it was only in 2004 when the tree was officially designated by act of congress. Also in keeping with the democratic nature of the country, the public was enlisted in the selection process to pick the national tree, with the effort being organized by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Twenty one general tree categories, drawn from all the state trees plus some others, were on the ballot, and persons of all ages could vote for one of them or even write in another tree name. Oak was the clear winner, with over 100,000 votes, easily outdistancing runners-up redwood, dogwood, maple and pine.

Answer: Silver Birch

Betula Pendula is the scientific name of Finland's national tree, one of seven national symbols for the nature-loving Finnish people. They also have a national animal, bird, fish, flower, insect and rock (granite)! Native to Europe and Asia, the silver birch has a wide range through Siberia, China, southwest Asia, northern Turkey and the Caucasus. Having spread widely after being introduced into North America and Canada, some in the new world consider it an invasive species.

However, not in Finland, where its versatility in a variety of uses is celebrated.

Besides the obvious timber source for buildings and furniture, the bark is used to make roofs, baskets and shoes. Even the sap is tapped to make a nutritious, mineral-rich drink. The Finnish website "This Is FINLAND" considers it "the most beautiful tree in Finland's native forests." And yes, the bark is silvery-white and of an almost fragile composition which peels off like paper as it renews itself.

Answer: Cork Oak

The scientific name is Quercus Suber, and it is part of the family of evergreen oaks, meaning its leaves do not fall off in the winter. Thick, protective bark harvested from Portugal's extensive forests of cork oak provide 50% of the world's cork, used for flooring, the centers of cricket balls, and of course to seal that wine bottle you pop open to celebrate your score on this quiz.

The harvesting can be safely done every seven to ten years without cutting down or damaging the trees, and it's regulated by government statute.

The tree is also found in other European countries around the Mediterranean basin, and in Northwest Africa. The Sobreiro Monumental is a 240 years old, 4.25 meters around, cork oak in Palmela, eastern Portugal. The Guinness Book of World Records considers it the oldest of the species in the world.

However, the Amorim Group, a Portuguese based multinational corporation and the world's largest cork producer, lists the Whistler Oak, planted in 1783 in Aguas de Moura, as "the world's oldest and most productive cork tree."