Flowering plants feature a wondrous array of colors, the primary purpose of which is to attract insect pollinators. But this may not have been the original function of flower color.
In a recent review published to the Journal of Experimental Botany, Dr. Paula J. Rudall, head of the Department of Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom, suggests that anthocyanin pigments, one of the primary compounds that grants flowering plants their diverse colors, originally accumulated in plants to help protect growing tissues.
Read full, original article: How and Why Did Flower Color First Evolve?
