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Letter: Letters: Coloured bloomers

Published 30 April 1994

From JAN BAURDOUX

Q: There seem to be four main colours of flowers: white, red, blue and
yellow.

Why is it that many types of plant which flower early in the season,
such as mimosa and forsythia, can only produce yellow flowers, while other
plants, such as roses, tulips and crocuses, produce flowers that appear
in more than one colour?

A few plant species, such as violets and freesia, even manage to produce
flower varieties in all of the four main colours. How can some plants do
this, while others cannot?

Jan Baurdoux Soest, Netherlands

Issue no. 1923 published 30 April 1994

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