An Academic Valentine: Blue for you or Pretty in pink?
Rajini Rao’s #AcademicValentine reminded me of this post about how pH can determine the color of Hydrangeas. Enjoy some science on St. Valentine’s day.
An Academic Valentine: The Science Behind Flower Color
http://goo.gl/8eOG6o via Rajini Rao
#ScienceEveryday
Originally shared by Chad Haney
Blue for you or Pretty in Pink?
About week ago I posted some pictures of my Hydrangeas that were just starting to bloom. http://goo.gl/Gn47h I noticed that on the same plant, some of the flowers were blue and others were pink. I knew that pH played a role but I found out that it is actually the aluminum in the soil that make the blue pigment possible. So for ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me, I had to dig up more info to post along with pictures from today.
When the pH is acidic, aluminum in the soil, mostly from clay, allows a metal complex of aluminum and a anthocyanin, named delphinidin 3-monoglucoside, to form. After the pictures, the first figure is of the aluminum complex. The next figure shows various blue flowers with sections cut revealing the pigment cells and protoplasts.
Although the next two figures are about Morning glories, they were too interesting to pass up. A certain ScienceSunday co-curator always has her eyes on certain channels. Similar to the previous figure, there is a cross section-cut revealing the pigmented cells. However, the paper and figure go on to discuss how the Morning glory does not have metal complexation. The petal color changes during flower opening due to pH changes which were measured in the second part of the figure. The final figure show the purported ion channel mechanism.
Plants can be beautiful. When you throw in a dash of science, they can be beautiful and intriguing.
Edit I forgot to add that a lot of insects leave hydrangeas alone. Why? Aluminum toxicity – win – win for us gardeners.
Sources:
Kumi Yoshida , Mihoko Mori and Tadao Kondo
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2009,26, 884-915
DOI: 10.1039/B800165K http://goo.gl/VGlZH
So is it Men At Work – Blue For You (1983) or The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink ?
#ScienceSunday #ScienceEveryday
February 14, 2014
It was great to look through the photo album again. Thanks for digging up this post. Wishing you a fun and loving #valentinesday <3
Happy Valentine’s Day to our gardening friends on G+: Michelle Beissel and Peter Lindelauf .
February 14, 2014
Thanks Rajini Rao. I’m looking forward to gardening instead of shoveling snow.
February 14, 2014
How about shovelling mud? Because that’s what I am doing in the rainy, cloudy southwest of France. 🙁
February 14, 2014
Waterlogged soil is no fun, Michelle Beissel .
We are waiting for the snow to go.
February 14, 2014
It’s too bad the US media is so preoccupied with snow that we haven’t seen pictures of the flooded Thames river.
February 14, 2014
My great-grandmother used to pour borscht on the roots to make her hydrangea plants pink.
February 14, 2014
Jodi Kaplan that is both charming and funny. Did it work?
February 14, 2014
Rajini Rao, it did! She was the only one with pink flowers and nobody knew why. Funny, I was going to pop back here and ask if anyone in the crowd knew why it worked.
And now to go take my Coursera genetics midterm (OY! Captain, I’m a copywriter, not a scientist).
February 14, 2014
Jodi Kaplan I would have to figure out if the borscht is basic or preventing the aluminum complex from forming, i.e., preventing the blue flowers.
February 14, 2014
I tried googling beet juice, and it appears to be acidic, especially if fermented like kvaas.
February 14, 2014
Assuming there’s aluminum in the clay, then it would push the plant towards blue.
February 14, 2014
Peter Lindelauf I’m anxious to get some gardening done. We planted some new spring bulbs last year. So I want to know how they will do.
February 14, 2014
You have some nice hydrangeas Chad Haney ~ They’re one of my favorites. Lovely post :-). When I had my garden, mine were pink, now I know why.
February 14, 2014
Thanks Mara Rose. I hope they do well this year.