Pick out the shades of red. The wrong answers are shades of green. Where necessary, the word 'red' has been missed off the name to avoid making it too obvious.
There are 15 correct entries. Get 2 incorrect and the game ends.
These shades of red have a story to them. Some have a natural inspiration:
- Amaranth (the colour) comes from the red flower of one amaranth variety, this is a reddish-rose colour. There are other amaranth-derived shades as well.
- Carmine is the pigment derived from the cochineal, a scale insect farmed in nopal cactus farms in Mexico, amongst others.
- Cinnabar (the colour) comes from a mineral of mercury (II) sulphide. The mineral is called cinnabar, cinnabarite or even mercurblende. Used since ancient times, the Romans were aware that its use as a cosmetic was not wise, mercury being toxic.
- Garnet (the colour) takes its name from the colour of the average garnet gemstone, which can vary between orange and green.
- Jasper (the colour) takes its name from red jasper, the most common form of the gemstone.
- Madder is a red pigment derived from the plant species of the same name in the Rubia genus.
- Ponceau (or poppy red) is named after the poppy flower.
- Maroon is a brownish-red colour coming from the French word 'marron' for 'chestnut' (as well as for 'brown'). To confuse things, the French for the colour maroon is 'grenat', after the Italian word 'granata'. There are several different dictionary descriptions for what the actual colour is.
- Rosewood (the colour) is from the colour of the rosewood hardwood, although this varies considerably
- Salmon takes its name from the colour of salmon flesh, which can range from a light orange to pink. The actual colour of the flesh will depend on the salmon's diet and the amount of carotenoid astaxanthin it contains. Fish farm salmon normally have colouring added to their food.
- Vermilion is a brilliant red at one time made from powdered cinnabar (see above).
Those reds without a natural analogue are:
- Cardinal red is said to get its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals, although the cassock colour is actually scarlet.
- Cordovan (the colour) takes its name from the city of Córdoba, Spain, the city is known for the production of cordovan leather, which comes from horses. The colour is a shade of red-brown.
- The British shipping line Cunard used to paint the funnels of their ships a red colour. To stop it peeling in the heat of the exhaust, the red paint was thickened with buttermilk which, after baking, became a red-orange colour known as Cunard red.
- Fire engine red is the bright red commonly used on fire engines and other emergency vehicles.
For completeness, the shades of green in this quiz are:
- Chartreuse takes its name from the yellowish-green colour of the French liqueur green chartreuse. There is also a chartreuse yellow named after the yellow version of the drink.
- Erin the colour takes its name through the poetic use of the name, meaning Ireland.
- Honeydew the colour comes from the flesh of the honeydew melon.
- Laurel green is said to have come from the leaves of the bay laurel tree.
- Olive green is the yellow-green from unripe or green olives rather than the leaves of the olive tree, which are more grey-green in colour.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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