Enhancing Flower Colour The production of coloured tissues,
particularly insect-attracting petals, depends upon the
synthesis of pigments. Plants are able to mix, modify and
enhance pigments to produce a vast array of final petal colours.
These colours are usually distributed across the flower in
patterns, which vary in their degree of regularity and
complexity between different species. While colour contrast is
much more important than pattern for attracting pollinators from
a distance, pattern becomes important at close range and allows
animals to distinguish between flowers of different species and
to learn to ‘handle’ flowers. This chapter considers the effects
of mixing pigments together, the regulation of pigment
distribution in the flower, and the use of metals, pH, and cell
shape to modify the final colour of the flower. Oxford
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