The Flora of Flags Trivia Quiz

The flag pictured in the photo is the Peru state flag (pabellón nacional), which contains the country's coat of arms. This version of the flag was adopted on 25 February 1825, during Simon Bolivar's administration; it was modified in 1950 by removing the coat of arms from the civil (national) flag, which is a simple vertical triband with two lateral red stripes and a middle white stripe. The meaning of these colours is still unclear, though various interpretations have been suggested.

In the coat of arms, also adopted in 1825 and modified in 1950, the three images on the shield refer to Peru's treasures in the three realms of nature. The cornucopia represents gold and other mineral resources, the vicuña the country's rich native fauna, and the cinchona tree its equally rich flora. Cinchona officinalis is a medicinal plant native to the Andean region, from whose bark quinine - an anti-fever agent, mainly used in the treatment of malaria - is extracted. The palm and laurel branches and the civic crown of holm oak (Quercus ilex) are symbols of victory and glory. These three botanical emblems, harking back to Greek and Roman times, frequently appear on national and local coats of arms.

Like the flags of other Commonwealth countries, the flag of Fiji is based on the British "Blue Ensign", which has the Union Jack as a canton (top left quarter). The flag's background, however, is sky blue rather than dark blue, symbolizing the Pacific Ocean where the country is located. Featuring the shield (escutcheon) from Fiji's national coat of arms on the fly, the flag was adopted on 10 October 1970, when the Pacific island nation became independent from the UK.

The four botanical items depicted on the shield refer to Fiji's most important natural resources. The golden lion at the top holds a cacao pod in its paws, while three out of four quadrants are occupied by a bunch of bananas, a coconut palm, and three stalks of sugarcane. The flag used during the colonial period was a darker shade of blue, and featured the whole coat of arms. Because of this continuing connection with Fiji's colonial past, in the 2010 the government issued a proposal to change the flag, which was eventually abandoned.

Adopted on 26 February 1986, the flag of Haiti consists of two horizontal bands of blue and red, with a rectangular white panel in the middle bearing the country's coat of arms. The latter - which is actually a national emblem, as it does not conform to the rules for a traditional coat of arms - was originally adopted in 1807, though its current form also dates from 1986.

The palm tree in the centre of the coat of arms - surmounted by a Phrygian (liberty) cap - symbolizes Haiti's independence, first declared in 1804. It is a royal palm (Roystonea sp.), a genus of large, single-stemmed palms native to the tropical Americas, but widely cultivated as ornamental plants in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The Haiti flag also has the distinction of being one of seven national flags that include a depiction of the flag itself. The motto on the white ribbon below the palm states "L'Union fait la Force" (Unity Makes Strength).

Adopted on 16 September 1968, the national flag of Mexico is a vertical triband of green, white and red, with the national coat of arms in the centre of the white stripe. The three colours were chosen in 1821, when the country first declared its independence from Spain. The coat of arms, on the other hand, is based on the symbol for the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, on whose ruins Mexico City was built. According to a legend, Tenochtitlan was founded on a site where the Aztecs saw an eagle devouring a snake while perching on a prickly pear cactus.

Opuntia ficus-indica, the prickly pear cactus, is called "nopal" in Mexico, to which it is native. The fruits on the cactus plant ("nochtli") are a symbol of Tenochtitlan, which was named after them. The cactus is set on a pedestal immersed in water (Lake Texcoco, where Tenochtitlan was built). The eagle-snake-cactus group is encircled by oak and laurel branches (symbols of glory and power), tied with a ribbon with the same colours as the flag.

With its striking colour scheme, the flag of Eritrea was adopted on 5 December 1995, two years after the country declared its independence from Ethiopia. It shows a red isosceles triangle (which resembles the shape of the country) based on the hoist side and pointed at the fly side, with an upper green right triangle, an a lower blue right triangle. An upright gold olive branch, encircled by a gold olive wreath, replaces the gold star on the original flag of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front. The red represents the blood shed in the fight for the country's independence, while the green and blue triangles represent respectively agriculture and the bounty of the sea, and the gold of the central emblem the country's mineral resources.

While olive trees may not be usually associated with Eritrea, they have been grown for centuries in parts of this largely agricultural country. The African variety of the olive tree (Olea europaea var. cuspidata) is the ancestor of the cultivated variety, and is highly prized for its wood. The olive wreath and branch emblem is derived from the Eritrean flag used in 1952-1961. There are thirty leaves on the wreath, representing the duration of the struggle for independence (1961-1991). The gold olive branch, with its oddly forked leaves, is instead a symbol of peace.

A British Overseas Territory, the Turks and Caicos Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Bahamas and north of Hispaniola. They were annexed by Britain in 1799, and became an autonomous territory in 1973, after the Bahamas (of which they were part) became independent.

The Turks and Caicos flag was adopted on 7 November 1968, and modified in 1999. It is a Blue Ensign with the Union Jack as a canton, and the islands' coat of arms on the fly side. Granted in 1965, this coat of arms is very distinctive, as it features two marine invertebrates - a queen conch shell and a Caribbean spiny lobster - above a rather oddly-shaped plant, called Turk's cap cactus, on a yellow shield. This succulent (Melocactus intortus), endemic to the Caribbean, owes its name to a red, bristly structure at the apex of the plant, resembling a Turkish fez; the Turks part of the islands' name comes from this plant.

The colourful flag of Equatorial Guinea, a small country in western Central Africa, was adopted on 21 August 1979. All of its elements have a strong symbolic value, starting with the colours. The three horizontal bands represent the country's natural resources (green), peace (white), and the blood shed during the fight for independence from Spain (red) - while the blue triangle based on the hoist represents the sea that joins the mainland and the five islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The mainland and the islands are represented by the six yellow stars placed above the national coat of arms, which is centred in the white band.

Equatorial Guinea's coat of arms - also adopted in 1979 - is a grey shield that contains a silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra), a very tall tree native to West Africa and the tropical regions of the Americas. The tree (also known as God tree) represents the place where the first treaty was signed between a local ruler and the Portuguese, who ceded the territory to Spain in 1778. This coat of arms was removed from the flag in 1972, and replaced with a different one during the brutal dictatorship of Francisco Nguema. The original coat of arms was restored - together with the motto "Unidad, Paz, Justicia" (Unity, Peace, Justice) - in 1979

In 1965, the beautiful Bauhinia x blakeana, commonly known as the Hong Kong orchid tree, was adopted as the floral emblem of the then-British territory, where it originated in 1880. Though its striking, fragrant purplish-red flowers resemble orchids, this plant belongs to the legume (pea) family. On the Hong Kong flag, however, the five-petaled Bauhinia flower is depicted in white on a field of vibrant vermilion (Chinese) red, a festive colour in China.

The current flag was approved in 1990, and officially adopted on 1 July 1997, when it was first hoisted during the ceremony in which Hong Kong was handed over to China, becoming a Special Administrative Region (SAR). The ceremony was held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre: the square outside the Centre is named Golden Bauhinia Square, after the giant statue of a gilded Bauhinia flower that stands there.

The world's fifth-smallest sovereign state, San Marino claims to be the world's oldest constitutional republic. Though its current flag was adopted on 22 July 2011, a simple white and blue flag was first hoisted in 1829. The blue band, however, was darker than the light sky blue that is used now. It is not known when the country's coat of arms that appears in the centre of the national flag was added.

Standardized in 1862, the San Marino coat of arms probably originated in the 14th century. The blue shield with three square towers (the three citadels of the Republic), surmounted by a crown, is surrounded by a branch of laurel and one of oak - both of them bearing golden fruits. These plants - both of which are native to the Italian peninsula where the Republic of San Marino is located - represent the defense of liberty (the laurel, a symbol of victory and glory) and the stability of the republic (the oak, a symbol of strength). The motto "Libertas" (Freedom) is inscribed on the white ribbon below the shield.

Adopted on 22 May 1972 - the day the island nation in the Indian Ocean became a republic and took its current name - the flag of Sri Lanka boasts a unique composition and colour scheme. On the hoist side there are two vertical stripes of teal and orange bordered in gold, while the larger part of the flag - also bordered in gold - features a gold lion holding a traditional ceremonial sword ("kastane") on a maroon background, with four gold sacred fig ("bo") leaves in each corner. The lion and the sword represent the Sinhalese (Sinhala meaning "abode of lions"), while the teal and orange stripes represent the Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims) and Sri Lankan Tamils, and the golden border the other minorities living on the island. The sacred fig leaves, on the other hand, symbolize the four Buddhist virtues of benevolence, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Also known as bodhi tree or peepul, the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) is a large tree with distinctive heart-shaped leaves (as shown on the flag). Native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina, it is an exceptionally long-lived tree that has been venerated by the peoples of South Asia for thousands of years. In Buddhist tradition, Siddharta Gautama attained enlightenment while meditating under one of these trees. A branch of the original bo tree was planted over 2,300 years ago in the Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura: it is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world.

The cedar tree in the centre of the flag of Lebanon is probably the most famous of the botanical symbols that appear on world flags, along with the red maple leaf on the Canadian flag. Featuring two horizontal red stripes and a wider, central white stripe, the national flag of Lebanon was adopted on 7 December 1943, a couple of weeks after the Middle Eastern country declared its independence from France. The stylized silhouette of a green cedar is centred in the white stripe, touching both of the red stripes. The white stripe represents peace and purity, while the red stripes represent the blood shed by the people of Lebanon in their fight against invaders. The cedar, on the other hand, symbolizes the country's strength and resilience.

The Lebanese cedar (Cedrus libani) is a large, evergreen conifer of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Mentioned in the Bible and other ancient literary texts - such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh" - this magnificent tree is widely grown as an ornamental plant It also appears on Lebanon's unofficial coat of arms, and on the logo of Middle Eastern Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier.

Adopted on 21 September 1981, when the small Central American country gained its independence from the UK, the flag of Belize (formerly known as British Honduras) consists of a royal blue field bordered by two narrow red stripes, bearing the country's coat of arms in the centre. The blue and red refer to the country's two political parties. The current Belize coat of arms is only slightly different from the one used when the country was still a British colony. It is a large white disc with a circular border formed by 25 leaves, enclosing an elaborate composition in which a shield is held by two woodcutters - one a Belizean mestizo (a person of mixed European and native ancestry), the other an Afro-Belizean. The Belize flag is the only world flag that contains human figures as a major design element.

A majestic mahogany tree looms behind the shield, which depicts some woodcutters' tools, as well as a ship. These images, as well as the country's motto, "Sub umbra floreo" (Under the Shade I Flourish), hint at the importance of mahogany for the economy of Belize in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Honduran mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is an evergreen tree native to the tropical Americas, renowned for its strong, reddish-brown wood - whose trade is now regulated. The mahogany is also the national tree of the Dominican Republic.