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Why the fruit is colorful
Why are the fruits colorful?
There are many kinds of plants in nature. Their fruits are colorful, some fruits “like to travel”, some like “being at home”, and the fruits near the equator are “black”. Why is this happening? Recently, a new study jointly completed by Chinese and American scientists has uncovered the mystery of fruit and color.
The Rhododendron family is a close relative of the blueberries we usually eat. The fruit is distributed around the entire Pacific Ocean and has many colors. This has caused scientists to be curious about the color, differentiation and geographical distribution of fruit color. A joint research team of the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Arizona and the Texas Institute of Botany found information that there are about 280 species of the plant by the sea at an altitude of 0 meters above sea-level, subtropical rainforest at an altitude of 400 meters, and grassland on the mountain at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The basic colors of the fruit mainly include: white, red, blue, purple and black, in addition to the different shades of the five basic colors. Further exploration found that although the red fruit is relatively rare, it has the strongest spread and the widest spread; the blue fruit has the worst diffusibility and is not easily transmitted to other areas; the white fruit may be the product of the whitening of red or blue fruits. In addition, altitude and latitude also affect the color of the fruit. The fruits in the low-altitude areas are mostly red; the fruits in the high-altitude areas are mostly white; the closer to the equator, the more blue-purple the fruit is, and the color is deepened.
Dr. Lu Lu, an associate researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the most important reason for the fruit is that it is rich in pigments such as carotenoids, anthocyanins and flavonoids. With the different changes in the proportion of these pigment combinations, as well as the impact of complex environmental systems, the fruit will eventually be colorful.
There are many kinds of plants in nature. Their fruits are colorful, some fruits “like to travel”, some like “being at home”, and the fruits near the equator are “black”. Why is this happening? Recently, a new study jointly completed by Chinese and American scientists has uncovered the mystery of fruit and color.
The Rhododendron family is a close relative of the blueberries we usually eat. The fruit is distributed around the entire Pacific Ocean and has many colors. This has caused scientists to be curious about the color, differentiation and geographical distribution of fruit color. A joint research team of the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Arizona and the Texas Institute of Botany found information that there are about 280 species of the plant by the sea at an altitude of 0 meters above sea-level, subtropical rainforest at an altitude of 400 meters, and grassland on the mountain at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The basic colors of the fruit mainly include: white, red, blue, purple and black, in addition to the different shades of the five basic colors. Further exploration found that although the red fruit is relatively rare, it has the strongest spread and the widest spread; the blue fruit has the worst diffusibility and is not easily transmitted to other areas; the white fruit may be the product of the whitening of red or blue fruits. In addition, altitude and latitude also affect the color of the fruit. The fruits in the low-altitude areas are mostly red; the fruits in the high-altitude areas are mostly white; the closer to the equator, the more blue-purple the fruit is, and the color is deepened.
Dr. Lu Lu, an associate researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the most important reason for the fruit is that it is rich in pigments such as carotenoids, anthocyanins and flavonoids. With the different changes in the proportion of these pigment combinations, as well as the impact of complex environmental systems, the fruit will eventually be colorful.