This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public Radio.

I'm Jane Lindholm.

In this show, we take your questions about anything and we find answers.

Sometimes we talk about really serious things and other times we like to answer your fun

and funny questions.

This week we're answering a bunch of questions that put a smile on our faces and we hope

they make you chuckle too.

Plus, you might actually learn something from some of the answers.

We'll start out with a question from Lily.

She asks, why do pickles and cactuses look like each other?

I will admit Lily, I've never thought about the fact that pickles kind of resemble some

cacti, but now that you mention it, they do.

And if you've ever picked a cucumber straight from the garden, you might know that some varieties

of cucumber have little spikes on them just like a cactus.

If you're wondering, pickles are just cucumbers that have been pickled in a vinegar brine.

You can make other kinds of pickled vegetables too, but let's just keep it simple and

assume Lily's talking about pickled cucumbers.

To make things even more confusing, there's actually a cactus called a cucumber cactus.

And I think that cactus looks less like a cucumber than some other kinds of cactus.

But back to the question, cucumber and cactus are both plants.

But they're in different plant families.

They're not very closely related.

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