What is the official state nut of Missouri?

Official state bird, tree, song ... these we expect. Official state nut? Well, yes. Some states do have one. Passion for pralines and pie led to the pecan becoming the official state nut of Alabama and Arkansas. Pecans are the “official state health nut” of Texas as well. For Missouri, the official state nut is the eastern black walnut. For Oregon, it’s the hazelnut, since Oregon grows about 98 percent of all the hazelnuts produced in the United States.

Trivia question: Which of these is NOT a tree nut?

A) Cashew

B) Macadamia

C) Peanut

D) Pistachio

Tambourines originated in the ancient Middle East, played mainly by women, especially when they were dancing at religious ceremonies. In Ottoman Turkey, the tambourine was so beloved, its perfect circle shape became associated with the sun. In medieval Europe, angels playing tambourines were depicted in paintings. Yet even an object so seemingly flawless can be improved. In the 1970s, percussionist Richard Taninbaum devised a headless, crescent-shaped tambourine with an ergonomic grip to prevent muscle fatigue. His design for the Rhythm Tech tambourine is now in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Two American presidents are depicted in Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” One is George Washington, of course. The other is James Monroe. At least, it’s generally assumed that the officer holding the flag is James Monroe. If so, Leutze was exercising artistic license in his 1851 painting. Monroe did serve under Washington in the Revolutionary War and was gravely wounded at the Battle of Trenton, but it’s unlikely he was part of the group that crossed the Delaware River in 1776.

Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame bear the name Harrison Ford. One honors the actor you know from “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The other honors a well-respected stage actor and silent film romantic leading man. Hollywood’s first Harrison Ford appeared in dozens of films between 1915 and 1932, including “Janice Meredith,” a peculiar Revolutionary War-themed drama that starred Marion Davies as the woman who instigated Paul Revere’s midnight ride. Ford played her love interest. And, in his first feature film role, W.C. Fields played a drunken British soldier.

Unless someone’s driving around in a Harbaugh or a Lombardi, it seems likely that Knute Rockne is the only football coach to have inspired a namesake automobile. Preparing to introduce a reliable, popular-priced car in 1931, Studebaker realized the Notre Dame football coach was pretty reliable and popular himself. The fact that both the automaker and the university were in South Bend, Ind., only made the pairing more perfect. Studebaker even had the coach on staff to give motivational workshops to its sales department.

Designated in February 1917, Alaska’s Denali National Park was the first to be established after the founding of the National Park Service in August 1916. The park was established largely to boost tourism that would sustain the railroad being built in the area of what was then called Mount McKinley. For the naturalists who led the campaign to create the park, the preservation of the area’s natural beauty and its wildlife — especially the Dall sheep — was paramount. They also wanted the mountain to retain its Native American name, Denali, meaning “The Great One.”

Trivia answer: Peanuts are not tree nuts, they’re legumes.

Elman