Black, black, black, take stock of the world's treasures of black flowers
Mr. Hanaki
In people's daily emotional cognition of color, black is often a derogatory color, which is the opposite of "white", the idiom "upside down black and white", "black and white distinction", "near Zhu is red, near ink is black", etc., basically use black to describe darkness and evil, common words "underworld", "black heart", "heart black hand", "fight yellow sweep black", "evil forces" is to use black to describe illegal behavior, and in the financial and economic circles of "black swan event", "black Friday", "black (dark) box operation" Reminiscent of disasters, Europeans and Americans are even more taboo about black, decorating weddings with white, and using black at funerals.
Black contains mystery, coldness, black has a sense of maturity and stability, black can absorb all the light waves of sunlight, representing tolerance, black opacity, representing privacy. Therefore, black is used in many ways, such as in industrial design, black is the standard color of most car appearances, representing solemnity, privacy, and safety; in the fashion industry, black and white are classic popular colors.
In nature, the formation of black is two reasons, one is that there is no light, the other is to absorb all the light waves, therefore, black is synonymous with cold, quiet, dark, and depressed, such as "black hole" is a star that represents that light cannot escape, and "night" is caused by no light. This mysterious nature of black has created a fear of black, as well as a desire to explore.
black hole
In the plant kingdom, black flowers are even rarer, and it is said that of the more than 41 million plants in the world, only 8 kinds of black flowers bloom (the specific varieties have not been found). The reason for the formation of black flowers, from the current research, has three aspects (the third reason is debatable).
The main reason is caused by physiological characteristics, the flowers of plants are most of the plants have sexual reproduction organs, need pollination to complete, so the flowers of plants in the evolution process, colorful, purple and red, some bright and incomparable, some imitation, some emit fragrance, some secrete substances, the function is to attract insects and birds to spread flower pollination. While black absorbs all light waves and does not reflect other colors, therefore, the vision of birds and insects is not induced, and thus gradually eliminated in the process of evolution, so natural black in the plant kingdom is extremely rare.
Another reason is that black absorbs all the sunlight waves, so the heat generated is large, especially when the sun is direct, it is easy to burn the petals, and the plant petals are very delicate, and the burns will cause tissue cell damage, which will affect the formation of seeds (the next generation), so that the reproduction rate is slow and gradually eliminated.
Moreover, the cell fluid of the plant contains anthocyanins that become from glucose, and the flower color is related to anthocyanins, and the anthocyanins are red when they are acidic, and the more acidic the color, the redder they are; when they are alkaline, they are blue, and the more alkaline they become blue-black, such as black peony, ink chrysanthemum, etc.; when neutral, they appear purple. In addition, there is another pigment is carotene, which is generally yellow, orange, orange red, red. As for white flowers, there is no pigment in the cell fluid. Perhaps as a result of a long period of natural elimination, fewer compounds appear black within the cell fluid.
Regarding the third study of the factors that form the black flower, I think that this is only starting from the analysis of the cellular fluid, and it seems that it should be more due to the result of evolution, rather than the cause, of course, this is only my personal opinion.
In short, black flowers are extremely rare in nature, and only a few have naturally existed so far, and more are carefully cultivated products after discovering mutations. Let's take stock of the black (purple-brown) flowers that have been found, some of which are cultivated varieties.
no.1 Tiger whiskers
Tiger whisker, also known as arrow root potato, is a perennial herb in the family Arrowroot potato family. Native to Yunnan, Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places in China, it grows at the water's edge or in the shade and wetness of rain forests, with rhizomes and a height of about 60 cm. The leaves are basal, single-leaf, rectangular oval to oval lanceolate, with petioles. Flowers amphoteric, umbel-shaped inflorescence, total bracts 4 pieces, there are 5 to 7 flowers, the internal bracts strips, about 12 cm long, stretching outward, like tiger whiskers, hence the name; 6 treks, red or purple-brown. Flowering period is from April to June. It is a rare plant that integrates flower viewing, leaf viewing and medicinal use.
no.2 Golden Vein Iris
Golden-veined iris, a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Iris in the family Irisidae. It is native to the slope meadows or forest edges of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet at altitudes of 1200-4400 meters in China. The plant is surrounded by a large number of brown lanceolate sheathed leaves, and the rhizomes are cylindrical, tan, obliquely extended. The leaves are basal, grey-green, striped, and have no obvious midrib. The flower stem is smooth, hollow, with 1-2 stem leaves in the middle or lower part; 3 bracts, green slightly reddish-purple, lanceolate, containing 2 flowers; the flowers are dark blue-purple, 8-12 cm in diameter; the outer flowers are lobed and narrowly ovate or oblong, with golden stripes, and the inner flowers are narrowly inverted lanceolate by lobes, and the upper part of the flower is tilted outward when the flower is blooming. The capsule is triangular cylindrical, tapering at the apex, rounded at the base, and beakless; the seeds are nearly pear-shaped and tan. The flowering period is from June to July, and the fruit period is from August to October.
no.3 Black marshmallow
Black marshmallow, a biennial upright herb of the mallow family, hollyhock, native to Sichuan, China, is 2 meters tall and has densely hairy stems. The flowers are inflorescences with single or heavy petals, flowering from June to August, capsules, flattened seeds, kidney-shaped.
no.4 Black peony
Black peony, cactus family, rock peony is a perennial herb native to Mexico, also known as elephant foot peony. It has a long fleshy straight root and a spherical, flattened gyro-like stem with triangular or prismatic stone-like wart-like protrusions. The flowers are solitary, funnel-shaped, open day and night, and flower from autumn to winter. The berries are ovoid, green, and the seeds are black.
This plant is extremely mysterious, very similar to the landform around the growth environment, and is a rare and endangered species. This species is widespread, with a large number of small, isolated populations expanding over a large area of more than 600 km. The leaf surface is smooth and the leaves are longer. It generally grows on plasterstone derived gypsum powder plains and hills, around 1000-1400 meters above sea level.
no.5 Black Lily
Black lily, an herbaceous plant of the lily family. It is found north of central Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Islands in Russia, kamchatka, Ussuri and northwestern North America. Alpine plants, which grow on the meadows of the alpine belt. It blooms in summer, the flowers are purple-brown, the flower diameter is about 3 cm, in the shape of a fishing bell, and the flowers are facing downwards. Perennial herb. There are bulbs underground, 10 to 30 cm long. Although the leaves are alternate, they are dense in 2 to 3 segments.
no.6 Black chrysanthemum
Black chrysanthemum, also known as oolong flower, belongs to the Asteraceae family, droopy chrysanthemum. Black chrysanthemums are very rare, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" once recorded: "Black chrysanthemums, produced in Quanzhou, activate blood and dissolve stasis, and freshen fire." , "Love Black Chrysanthemum" poem: "Dragon sunflower life, inch grass companion, curved petals fall, winter also solstice".
No.7 Black Mage
The Black Mage is a succulent cultivar cultivated in the family Sedum and the lotus palm genus, and does not exist in nature. The plant is shrub-shaped, grows upright, is about 1 m tall, multi-branched, old stem lignified, stem cylindrical, light brown, fleshy, slightly thin leaves, 20 cm chrysanthemum-shaped rosette leaf disc integrated in the branches, the leaves are inverted oval or inverted lanceolate, 5 cm-7 cm long, with small tips at the apex, white eyelash-like teeth on the leaf margin, black and purple leaves, and greenish purple in winter. The inflorescence is about 10 cm long, with small yellow flowers, and the plant usually dies after flowering. The purple-black leaves are arranged in a lotus-like cascade, giving people a sense of solemn mystery and high ornamental value.
no.8 Black tulips
The black tulip, an herbaceous plant of the lily family and tulip genus, is one of the rare cultivars of tulips that has been cultivated in six years (it is said that the Dutch horticulturist Geert Hagermann spent six years cultivating it). Another story is that in early February 2005, three students from the Singapore Polytechnic Institute bred themselves, commonly known as the "Night Queen". ）。
no.9 Black Rose
(Dyed Black Rose)
Black rose, in fact, is the black moon season, Rose family, rose is an upright shrub, is an artificially cultivated variety, not a natural product. The Flower Newspaper once reported that Zhejiang flower farmers challenged the world's breeding problems, and the "black" monthly season appeared in Shaoxing, filling the gap of domestic black roses. The stems are clustered with stem spines. Singular pinnate compound leaves are alternate, oval or oval inverted ovate, sharply pointed or blunt at the apex, and the spines at the base of the petiole are often opposite. The flowers grow solitaryly in the leaf axils or several clusters, with ovate bracts, glandular hairs at the edges, and flattened spherical fruit.
No.10 black morning glory
Black morning glory, belonging to horticultural cultivars, spiral flowers, morning glory genus annual winding herb.
From the above, it can be seen that black flowers in nature are indeed rare, and many of them are just similar in color. In fact, pure black flowers basically do not exist, but the flowers are purple-brown, dark brown, after absorbing the sunlight spectrum, gradually become close to black, so people say black when naming, it is also a slightly exaggerated statement.
In the process of cultivating horticultural varieties, many people work hard to explore and find undiscovered flowers, research and cultivate new varieties, the wonder of the natural world is that she will always bring you hope and attract you to the mysterious unknown world, which is also the reason for the continuous progress of human beings.
To borrow a verse from the poet Gu Cheng, "The night gave me black eyes, but I used it to find the light." To encourage those who continue to explore in the field of plants, I hope that there will be more varieties of black horticultural flowers, displayed in front of human beings, decorate the world with colorful colors, and beautify the living environment with a hundred flowers.
2017-12-30 Easy to flower wood