As a horticulture and landscape gardening expert , I can confidently say that naturally blue farewell are passing uncommon in the works realm . While sorry flowers do subsist , find industrial plant with naughty leaves is a much more challenging task . In fact , only a small routine of plant life specie found on the flooring of tropical rainforests possess this unique trait .
To sympathise why blue leaves are so rare , we need to cut into into the physics of light and the role of pigments in plant life . pigment are creditworthy for the colors we see in flowers , fruits , and even leaves . They plunge certain wavelengths of light and reflect the rest , make them appear a certain colour to our heart .
Typically , flora curb pigment such as chlorophyll , which gives allow for their characteristic green color . Chlorophyll absorbs lighter in the red and blue regions of the spectrum , but reflects green light , hence the familiar green colour of most plant leaves .
So why do n’t we see more low-spirited leaf in nature ? The answer lies in the wavelength of light that are available to plants . low-spirited light has a shorter wavelength and mellow muscularity compared to red and green light . This higher get-up-and-go can be detrimental to plant tissues and interrupt photosynthesis , the process by which plants convert light energy into chemic energy .
plant have adapt to optimize their abstemious absorption and denigrate the potential harm make by blue visible radiation . They have evolved to absorb more red and blue light , which are the most important wavelengths for photosynthesis , while reflecting or absorbing excess blue light to protect their cellphone from damage .
However , there are a few exceptional plant mintage that have care to incorporate blue pigments into their leaves . One such example is the tropical rain forest works screw as Pollia condensata . Its leaf moderate tiny structures call cellulose nanocrystals , which scatter Light Within in a way that bring forth a striking patrician color . These grim leaves are thought to play a part in attracting pollinators or deter herbivores .
Another example is the blue fern , Phlebodium aureum ‘ Blue Star ’ . This fern has foliage that appears blue due to a combination of pigment and geomorphologic features . The gentle colour is believed to be a result of a pigment called anthocyanin , which is responsible for the red , purple , and blue hues in many plants .
While these examples exhibit that of course blue leaves do be , they are still a rareness in the plant humankind . The absolute majority of flora have not evolved blue pigments or structural adaptations to bring about puritanic leaves . Instead , they have optimized their paint to reflect or take in luminousness in other colors , such as green or various shades of red .
The scarceness of by nature blue leaf in plants can be assign to the physic of light and the delicate balance wheel that works have struck between maximise photosynthesis and protect their cell from damage . While a handful of plant species have managed to comprise bluish pigment or structural feature into their leaves , they remain the exception rather than the average in the botanic world .
Caroline Bates
