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The calibration of flower colour indicators

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Summary

  1. 1.

    A method is presented by which the colour-range of the anthocyanin pigments of any particular flower can be calibrated in relation to hydrogen ion concentration.

  2. 2.

    The grouping of the anthocyanin flower colours as ‘red’, ‘magenta’ and ‘blue’ byBuxton andDarbishire is confirmed.

  3. 3.

    The necessity of calibrating the pH before accepting qualitative colour reactions with alkali as evidence of chemical structure of anthocyanins is emphasised.

  4. 4.

    It is considered that these natural indicators show coloursin vitro which are comparable to those shown in the living cell, so that by matching the petal with the pH standards the pH of the cell-sap can be determined.

  5. 5.

    The flowers examined showed pH values from 3·1 to 7·8. The red group was the most acid, and the blue group on the whole the most alkaline.

  6. 6.

    This method allows of direct observation of pH changes accompanying such activities as opening and withering of flowers and the effect of external conditions on them.

  7. 7.

    The relation of petal-pH and pigment type to the genetics of flower-colour inPrimula sinensis andCineraria is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departement of Botany, University of St. Andrews, University College Dundee, Scotland

    Edith Philip Smith B. A., Ph. D.

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  1. Edith Philip Smith B. A., Ph. D.
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Additional information

Part of the cost of illustration was borne by grants from the University Court of the University of St. Andrews and from the Carnegie Trust.

The writer is indebted to Professor W.Wright Smith, Regius Keeper, The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, for the material of hardy Primulas used in this investigation.

Some of the results, described here in detail, were presented to the British Association for the Advancement of Science at the meeting in London in September 1931, under the same title as the present paper.

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Smith, E.P. The calibration of flower colour indicators. Protoplasma 18, 112–125 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01611871

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01611871

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