Where do the different colours in flowers come from?

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Where do the different colours in flowers come from?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Some colours in the natural world are produced by pigments (think dyes and food colouring) that reflect certain wavelengths of light.

Chlorophyll is a green pigment (absorbs red and blue light and changes it to chemical energy) that gives most plants their green colour.

The [wiki on Biological pigment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pigment) has some good information.

>Plant pigments include many molecules, such as porphyrins, carotenoids, anthocyanins and betalains. All biological pigments selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light while reflecting others

The red, orange and yellow pigments are often Carotenoids – chemically these are often a [Tetraterpene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraterpenoid).

Blue pigment colours are often Anthocyanins – these are Flavonoid chemicals that can appear deep blue at one pH, and change colour at a different pH,

The other way to do colours is not buy pigments, but by structural reflection or absorption of certain wavelengths of light. This is more common in animals (think butterfly wing scales and beetle shells) than plants, but some plants also have these colours.

The wiki on [structural colour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_color) is worth reading.

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