Botanical Marvels

3. Its nuts are encased in spiny burrs; this tree's wood was used for railroad ties and Shakespeare's stage
5. This goddess's trap counts to two before striking
8. Dewdrops that aren't dew; these sticky tentacles curl around struggling flies
9. Storing 30,000 gallons in its trunk—this African upside-down tree lives two millennia
11. The king of fruits—creamy, spiky, and so pungent that hotels ban it.
12. This tree's crimson sap was medieval medicine and as varnish for Stradivarius violins
13. Buddha sat beneath this fig species; its aerial roots form a cathedral of wood
14. Two leaves for its entire thousand-year life;this Namib desert relic curls like alien tentacles
15. This tree's bark smells like cinnamon, its wood like root beer
16. This Mediterranean tree's fruit gives oil, its wood built the Athenian navy

1. This Amazonian tree's sap is tapped for ice cream; its fruit is called "the milk of the Amazon
2. This bumpy, ancient fruit was the only citrus known to ancient Rome
4. This tree's "fruit" is a winged seed that spins like a helicopter; children call them whirlybirds
6. Named for a queen, this giant water lily holds a small child's weight on its leaves
7. this South American tree's fruits are armor-plated spheres
10. Jack of all trades? This Southeast Asian fruit wears a spiky armor but hides sweet custard flesh