Scientists find out secret of black dahlias

Scientists find out secret of black dahlias

    Scientists have now decoded why some dahlias are black, a rarity, after analysing as to why the plant displays varying hues, from white to yellow to red to purple. The distinctive black-red colour is based on an increased accumulation of anthocyanins, a class of flavonoids that imparts a reddish hue to many fruits, vegetables grains and flowers, said researchers from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria.
    Worldwide there are about 20,000 varieties of the flower, many of them showing red hues. However, black hued dahlia occur rarely, in comparison.
    The team determined that black varieties have very low concentrations of flavones. Heidi Halbwirth, who led the study, emphasised that the black colour is the result of the intermediates being converted into anthocyanins at the expense of formation of flavones. IANS