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2012年5月16日 星期三

Patches of Red and yellow

I do not know why. In the world of Nature, certain colors appear to go only with stronger or weaker tints of themselves or with just one other color and at most with two. Maybe it's a matter of conservation of energy and resources. Certainly energy is a scarce resource and hence, wherever possible, not to be wasted. Is that why duality appears to be a recurrent principle of the observable world here on earth: stem and root (upper and lower) leaves and flowers (producer and consumer), and within the reproductive part of the same flower or between the reproductive parts of flowers from different plants of the same species, male and female pollens (active and passive), and flowers and seed (parent and child) and within the same flower, petals and stamens (attractive assistants and centre of attraction), with the petals in one color and the stamen in another. Whatever the reason for this may be, it's certainly something that I observed at the flower show.




This clusters of flowers have red petals, red buds and red seed pods.



These too have red petal and red stamens



And likewise these smaller flowers



And this


And these.



These flowers also have red petals but yellow stamens which when withered would turn into a much darker black.




This one too is like those above.




This flower has red petals, whitish stems for its stamens topped by yellow at its tips



So is this other flower



And these



And these.



And this. Why only red and yellow? To look more beautiful or attractive?



4 則留言:

  1. Our eyes are sensitive to light which lies in a very small region of the electromagnetic spectrum labeled "visible light". This "visible light" corresponds to a wavelength range of 400 - 700 nanometers (nm) and a color range of violet through red. The human eye is not capable of "seeing" radiation with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. The visible colors from shortest to longest wavelength are: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Most flowers appear in vibrant RED which is the strongest lure to attract “visitors” for helping pollination. This is not sheer coincidence but why? Could flowers be as cunning and manipulative as humans?
    [版主回覆05/16/2012 12:56:18]I understand that red has the lowest frequency ie. it requires the least number of cycles of vibration, hence least amount of energy to activate the relevant vibrations. ie. most energy saving (energy being always a scarce resource in Nature). Since the purpose of flowers is to attract insects to help with pollination and fertilization to start the relevant replication/reproduction cycles, if the flowers are in red, they may stand a much better chance of attracting insects because it requires the least amount energy from the receptive eyes of the relevant insects. But at the same time, since to survive, animals and insects need to be able to detect "differences" and "changes" in the energy level in the environment, evolutionary forces favor the replication of flowers which provide for a sufficient quantity of "difference/contrast" to attract the attention of insects consistent with the contrary need to conserve energy.Since yellow is in the middle of the frequency band, it best fits the two conflicting requirements: i.e. it has sufficient degree of "contrast" to attract the attention of the insects which depend upon their eyes for navigation but with the least energy requirement from such insects (hence plenty of red around just a little bit of yellow at the centre of the flowers) Could that be the reason? But then we also find flowers like blue and purple flowers which require higher frequency vibrations (hence higher energy level for detection). Why? Perhaps if all the flowers opt for this lower energy "red" strategy, then they may lower their chances for survival because they got too many competitors ; so some opt for a higher energy option. Could that be why?

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  2. It's amazing what differences flowers make to the world we live. Your pictures are getting better and better too!


    Thanks for your sharing!
    [版主回覆05/17/2012 08:29:47]It'd certainly be a much more monotonous world without flowers. They make this world much richer by the multiplicity of their form and colors..

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  3. Vivid color like red or yellow is more attractive to human eye.
    [版主回覆05/18/2012 09:47:12]yeah, they are! Perhaps that's why I was motivated to press the shutter.

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  4. 域 流亦詩 Louis Rick2012年5月17日 晚上7:57

    謝謝分享!
    [版主回覆05/18/2012 09:48:00]You're most welcome.

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