Green flowers need yellow to get noticed in a green world.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Flower colour is a key feature in plant-pollinator interactions that makes the flowers visible amid the surrounding green vegetation. Green flowers are expected to be scarcely conspicuous to pollinators; however, many of them are visited by pollinators even in the absence of other traits that might attract pollinators (e.g. floral scents). In this study, we investigate how entomophilous species with green flowers are perceived by pollinators.

Methods

We obtained reflectance spectra data of 30 European species that display green or green-yellow flowers to the human eye. These data were used to perform spectral analyses, to calculate both chromatic (colour contrast against the background) and achromatic (colour contrast that relies on the signals from the g

SUBMITTER: Del Valle JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12358037 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature