Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: kdlynn on 16/06/2007 06:34:46
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what i mean is, would it be possible to grow a tree in an unusual color for a tree... like pink!
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if they can grow purple carrots and orange cauliflower, im sure making a pink tree is possible, but I know next to nothing about plant genetics.... anyone, anyone???
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I think we need colleen on this one.
When you say grow a pink tree, do you mean the bark or the leaves? I would doubt that you could change the colour of the bark, you could possibly change the colour of the leaves by feeding the tree food dyed water.
the same process you use to make celery change colour, by capillary action. But im not too sure if this would work.
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if you gave it dyed water would the inside of the tree change color? i don't have any celery to try this. lol
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The problem for a tree of a different colour would be it's photosynthesis. A tree photosynthesises not only in its leaves, but also in the branches and trunk. The vegetables mentioned above (carrot and cauliflower) can be altered because firstly the carrot is the root, and so doesn't do much in the way of photosynthesis, and the cauliflower is the flowering part - its leaves are still green. Of course, we already have trees with pink flowers - a lot of fruit trees have this for example.
Chlorophyll absorbs light and provides the energy for photosynthesis. The wavelength in which chlorophyll works best is in the red and blue range, and therefore does not absorb the green wavelength which is why leaves appear green. There are 2 chlorophylls at work - "a" and "b". They both operate in a slightly different frequency, thus increasing the total energy use from the sun. Chlorophyll "a" operates in the 400-450 & 650-700 nm frequencies (purple and red) while "b" operates in the 450-500 & 600-650 nm frequencies (blue and orange). They also generally exist in a 3 to 1 ratio, a to b. The gap left (500 - 600 nm) is the green zone. In some tree's leaves, the chlorophyll "a" is less dominant, therefore there is an increase in the anount of purple and red wavelengths reflected, hence the leaves are more purpley in colour, while the tree is still able to photosynthesize.