Gaillardia - an interesting flower

[kds315*]

This is about an interesting find, when I was wondering around in parks taking shots using my "insect vision" filter. I know that prominent "Gaillardia" flower since I was a kid, but I never thought that it would exhibit some prominent UV pattern - but it does!

VIS shot:


simulated tetrachromatic vision ("butterfly vision" shot) (UV+B+G+R):


simulated trichromatic vision ("bee vision" shot) (UV+B+G):


I found it especially fascinating, that the red part of that prominent Gaillardia pattern has a very strong UV reflectance, accompanied by a prominent pattern the petal tips exhibits (UV+Green) so as to generate that "heliport landing spot" pattern. Is it just a coincidence that the pollen exhibits the very same color (and do I see some fluorescence there - to make the pollen look even brighter??)

[Schnauzer]

That is really interesting. I'm glad you have been showing these, I had no idea.

[poilu]

beautiful flower and interesting infos
do you see the heliport with the "insect vision" filter or do you have to process the file

[luisalegria]

Have you got a paper written on the "bee vision" aspect of flowers ?

You may find some interesting patterns across varieties and species.

There has to be a very interesting evolutionary story there.

[kds315*]

Thanks Guys!

@Luis: I have a list of publications on that on my UV-BLOG in case you're interested.

[sichko]

Klaus

Do you know if there are different pigments in the red and yellow parts of the petals ? Or is it a simple concentration effect - concentrated pigment in the red part and the same diluted pigment in the yellow part ?

[kds315*]

[sichko]

I wondered if anyone had actually isolated the pigment(s). It's the sort of thing a chemist might do. I did a search on Google when I first saw your Rudbeckia work. I didn't find much. Unfortunately now that I'm retired I don't have ready access to a decent library.

[Laurence]

Now you have me wondering about our own Cornus canadensis, which is supposed to be quite unusual in its iteration of the UV attractors.

[kds315*]

Well, the outer 4 bright white "petals" reflect UV quite strongly if I remember correctly, but the inner "real" flower appear quite dark. We have that here and it is fully blossoming, so I can try and get some shots maybe today....(just cannot afford to have much wind for that and this was always an issue with Cornus canadensis)

[kds315*]

Well not exactly the dwarf type of Cornus canadensis but a similar, cultivated form I found a last one flowering, since all the others are done already. Unfortunately it was in a private garden where I could not get closer.

Visual light shot:


"bee vision" shot (UV+B+G):


The outer white pseudo-petals are very bright also in UV so to make the center stand out.

[kds315*]

....found more in another park: