Botanical trivia

Check your plant IQ with these multiple choice questions. Answers below.

1. How many plant species are there in Georgia?
a) 500
b) 1,000
c) 2,500
d) 4,000

2. Which one of these is not a plant?
a) grass
b) mushroom
c) shrub
d) tree

3. Where do plants get their "food" from?
a) nutrients in soil
b) energy from sunlight
c) carbon dioxide in air
d) all of the above

Answers:
1. d.
2. b. A mushroom is the reproductive part of a fungus; it is not a plant.
3. d. Food is an animal concept, but it has three parts: energy (chemical bonds), carbon and nutrients (non-carbon elements and components). Animals get this all in one place (i.e., from the things they consume). Plants, however, get energy from the sun (using photosynthetic cells), carbon from carbon dioxide in air (taken in thru stomata) and nutrients from soil (taken up by roots and root hairs).