The vibrant cells of spring flowers (BioE80 Spr2015)
May 27, 2015 • 12:46 AM UTC
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mloeun
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When looking out into the open quad, I noticed the plethora of flowers spread out in compact bundles. The vibrancy of the petal colors intrigued me, and what we can see with our eyes is only so limited. So I posed the question, does the arrangement of cells in the petals contribute to the vibrancy of the colors?
So I took a few different types of flowers and looked closely at each of the petals. I chose the most vibrant purple and red petals that I saw in the quad. I paid close attention to how the cells were laid out in the petal and pondered about how it might have affected the apparent vibrancy of the flower. In figure 1, it seems as if the darkest parts of the petal seem to be where the cells are smaller and most densely packed together. This can also be seen in the darker section of figure 3, where the cells appear to be smaller and more tightly packed than the lighter section next to it. This lighter section can also be seen in figure 2, where the cells seem larger and lighter. Although this may not be an indication of why these certain parts of flowers are more vibrant than others, it gives me a hint of why it is so. In the future, it may be interesting to look at the vibrancy of leaves and even pollen to see how the layout of cells in those features contribute to the apparent color.
Matthew Loeun, Christopher Billovits
So I took a few different types of flowers and looked closely at each of the petals. I chose the most vibrant purple and red petals that I saw in the quad. I paid close attention to how the cells were laid out in the petal and pondered about how it might have affected the apparent vibrancy of the flower. In figure 1, it seems as if the darkest parts of the petal seem to be where the cells are smaller and most densely packed together. This can also be seen in the darker section of figure 3, where the cells appear to be smaller and more tightly packed than the lighter section next to it. This lighter section can also be seen in figure 2, where the cells seem larger and lighter. Although this may not be an indication of why these certain parts of flowers are more vibrant than others, it gives me a hint of why it is so. In the future, it may be interesting to look at the vibrancy of leaves and even pollen to see how the layout of cells in those features contribute to the apparent color.
Matthew Loeun, Christopher Billovits
Figure 2
Figure 3
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