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Autumn Quiz

We hope you enjoy completing our Autumn quiz. The questions only are listed first so please scroll down to reveal the answers!

  1. Name the pigment which trees stop producing, thus causing leaves to lose their green colour?
  2. What is a cribbar, which appears in Cornwall once or twice a year — often in autumn — for a couple of hours at a time?
  3. Maple, ash and sycamore trees produce seeds with which nickname, due to the way they fly through the air?
  4. What is a a baby hedgehog called?
  5. Pumpkin fragments dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC have been found in which country?
  6. Which English Romantic poet composed “To Autumn” after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening?
  7. Which celebration is influenced by the Celtic autumn festival, Samhain?
  8. What causes Autumn?
  9. In ancient times, which autumn vegetable was thought to remove freckles and cure snake bites?
  10. How many apples does it take to create one gallon of apple cider?

Answers

  1. Name the pigment which trees stop producing, thus causing leaves to lose their green colour?

Chlorophyll. The reduced sunlight means photosynthesis loses its benefits — it costs a tree more energy to support a leaf than the leaf gives back. Autumnal colours then result from other chemicals in the leaves, like beta-carotenes (red — also found in carrots) and luteins (yellow — also found in egg yolks).

2. What is a cribbar, which appears in Cornwall once or twice a year — often in autumn — for a couple of hours at a time?

A huge wave, beloved of surfers. It can be up to 35ft high — just under half the size of the 2004 Asian tsunami. It takes its name from the Cribbar reef at Newquay, though is also known chillingly as the ‘widow maker’.

3. Maple, ash and sycamore trees produce seeds with which nickname, due to the way they fly through the air?

Helicopter seeds

4. What is a a baby hedgehog called?

A hoglet

5. Pumpkin fragments dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC have been found in which country?

Mexico

6. Which English Romantic poet composed “To Autumn” after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening?

John Keats

7. Which celebration is influenced by the Celtic autumn festival, Samhain?

Halloween

8. What causes Autumn?

The earth’s tilt in relation to the sun.

9. In ancient times, which autumn vegetable was thought to remove freckles and cure snake bites?

Pumpkin

10. How many apples does it take to create one gallon of apple cider?

About 36 apples