Floral color change

[3][4] The first written record of the term floral color change was in 1877 when Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) forwarded a letter from his colleague, naturalist Fritz Müller (31 March 1821 – 21 May 1897) to the British multidisciplinary science journal, Nature.

Müller documented the patterns and efficiency of pollination in relation to the floral color change that occurred in Lantana flowers found in Brazilian forests.

It is now understood that floral color change has evolved independently several times and has maintained morphological and physiological differences across taxa.

While angiosperm taxa show variation in the time that it takes senescence to occur, the mechanism is typically associated with the biosynthesis of anthocyanins.

Evening primrose in the genus Oenothera are a common example of flowers that undergo color changes due to senescence.

[4] There has been one non-chemical example found within Caesalpinioideae, a single sub-family of Fabaceae where the folding of petals cause changes to the color patterns of the flowers.

Lantana camara inflorescence displaying floral color change. The yellow and white flowers are newly opened while the magenta flowers are older and have been triggered by pollination to produce more anthocyanins. [ 1 ]
Ipomoea indica flowers change from bright blue to a faded purple by the end of the day. [ 2 ]
Hibiscus mutabilis flowers changing colors during a day
A foraging pollinator of a species in the Lupinus genus. At the top of the inflorescence are rewarding flowers at anthesis where the spot on the banner petal is yellow. Towards the bottom of the inflorescence there are older purple flowers that are typically avoided by pollinators presumably because they contain less pollen and nectar. [ 8 ]