I touch on this in a post about some purple cacti I saw in Anza Borrego Desert earlier this year. Some of the purple flowers I’ve seen over the past couple of years.Īnthocyanins can provide protection against light exposure, kind of like sunscreen for humans. Yes, yes, recall all that color really is, is the reflection of that wavelength of light. That’s the pigment in plant structures that appear green to our human eyeballs, like leaves, stems, phyllaries, etc. Whereas for yellow, the pigments are carotenoids. For purple, these pigments that produce the purple coloration are anthocyanins, member of the flavonoid group. These pigments of course have their own special names. So when conditions change or an acid or base is added to the petal, it will change color. In solution purple petals are bases, they like to accept Hydrogen ions, whereas acids like to donate hydrogen ions. Simply, the number of hydrogen molecules within a pigment will determine the color we see. Are flashbacks of high school chemistry flowing into your mind? It’s okay, this is simple and fascinating. If the molecular structure changes, like adding or losing a Hydrogen molecule, the color will therefore change. Anywhoo, pigment is simply a molecule with a unique molecular structure. Plants are funny beasts sometimes, and today we aren’t going deep on botanical terminology. To start off.Ĭolor is created by the pigments within the petals, or what most people recognize as petals. Some of the yellow-flowered plants I’ve seen over the past couple of years. But I’m not talking about red flowers in this post, it’s all about yellow and purple today folks! What causes these colors? What are the differences between yellow and purple? What pollinators visit? Why mainly these two colors on these landscapes? Red is coming from California Fuschia (Epilobium canum) and Cardinal Catchflies (Silene laciniata), along with a few Paintbrush species. This initial observation is a couple weeks old, and now I see another color has entered the mix, red. Roundleaf Leatherroot (Hoita orbicularis).Alkali Heath (Frankenia salina), Red Sand-Verbena (Abronia maritima). Santa Barbara Ceaothus (Ceanothus impressus).Crisp Monardella (Monardella undulata crispa).Santa Barbara Wirelettuce (Stephanomeria elata).California Aster (Corethrogyne filaginifolia).Silver Rock-Lettuce (Stephanomeria cichoriacea).
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