In a message dated 6/9/2008 6:13:50 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tesilvers@yahoo.com writes:
So
maybe there's a pH change or something else that's going on, that gives the
"turquoise" apearance. Your soil or climate could be contributing to so many
of your pallidas showing it.
The picture shows that wilting cengialtii
style against a flower of OZARK SKY which happened to be blooming that same
day. OZARK SKY is a fairly bluish-purple plicata
MTB.
Excellent shot! It shows the change in color quite well
and reminds be of an old trick for assessing seedling potential.
1. Cut the sacrificial flower just as it is starting to wilt, with
enough stalk to sustain it through the test period.
2. Put the specimen in water, just as you would a
fresh flower, but use a clear container.
3. Place the container on a pad of white paper
towels, and arrange the stalk so that the flower is over the towel pad instead
of the vase/jar/glass.
4. Let nature take its course. You may be able
to observe some changes in color as the flower wilts, but most wait to close
until the wee hours of the morning when you are sound asleep.
5. As the flower closes, something activates the
precursor pigments and various shades of blue and violet that could not be seen
in the flower will stain the paper towel -- and the water if some fell into
it.
This works because the wilting process separates the two types of
pigments. The water-soluble ones drip out and the others remain in the
flower. I'll leave it to someone else to explain the chemistry of the
activation of precursors.....
Is that a blatant enough hint?
Sharon McAllister
