ISHS Acta Horticulturae 766: XXVII International Horticultural Congress - IHC2006: International Symposium on Ornamentals, Now!
FLOWER COLOR DIVERSITY AND ITS OPTICAL MECHANISM |
| Authors: | Y. Zhang, T. Hayashi, M. Inoue, Y. Oyama, M. Hosokawa, S. Yazawa |
| Keywords: | reflected light, epidermal cell, pigment, structure |
| Abstract:
The textures of flowers are important ornamental characteristics. Reflected light from the surface of petals, including colorful bracts and leaves, is a key factor determining the texture of flowers. The results of experiments in which we examined various species of flower petals indicated that there are two types of reflected light: one is superficial reflected light, which is determined by the shape of the epidermal cells. More light is reflected by flat epidermal cells than by papillate ones. In particular, when the angle of incident light was changed, the belt-shaped reflected light was only observed through the microscope from the side of the papillate epidermal cells. The other type of reflected light is scattered reflected light, which is determined by the petal structure, and the higher the pigment content in a petal, the more light is absorbed. The intensity and origin of scattered reflected light depends on the volume and location of air spaces in the petal that are distributed among the epidermal, palisade, and spongy cells. There are three typical flower textures: velvet luster (e.g., Viola tricolor), which occurs due to superficial reflected light, and metallic luster (e.g., Begonia rex) and diamond dust (e.g., Saintpaulia ionantha), which are caused by scattered reflected light. | |
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