Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color

By David Lee

Though he didn’t realize it at the time, David Lee began this book twenty-five years ago as he was hiking in the mountains outside Kuala Lumpur. Surrounded by the wonders of the jungle, Lee found his attention drawn to one plant in particular, a species of fern whose electric blue leaves shimmered amidst the surrounding green. The evolutionary wonder of the fern’s extravagant beauty filled Lee with awe—and set him on a career-long journey to understand everything about plant colors.

Nature’s Palette is the fully ripened fruit of that journey—a highly illustrated, immensely entertaining exploration of the science of plant color. Beginning with potent reminders of how deeply interwoven plant colors are with human life and culture—from the shifting hues that told early humans when fruits and vegetables were edible to the indigo dyes that signified royalty for later generations—Lee moves easily through details of pigments, the evolution of color perception, the nature of light, and dozens of other topics. Through a narrative peppered with anecdotes of a life spent pursuing botanical knowledge around the world, he reveals the profound ways that efforts to understand and exploit plant color have influenced every sphere of human life, from organic chemistry to Renaissance painting to the highly lucrative orchid trade.

Lavishly illustrated and packed with remarkable details sure to delight gardeners and naturalists alike, Nature’s Palette will enchant anyone who’s ever wondered about red roses and blue violets—or green thumbs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: Sep 3, 2010
• ISBN: 9780226471051

Book preview

Reviews for Nature's Palette

[eoin-311239 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ugh. Over-reaching with the non-scientific opinions, overly jargony for the science. So close to a great book for subject and expertise. Another for the pile of science-books-that-need-a-co-author/editor. Disappointing.

[niecierpek · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting book on plant pigments. Lee covers what is known about colours of leaves and flowers in minute detail. He answers the question of how pigments are produced quite extensively, but only partially what the function of plant colour is. It is actually surprising how much, yet how relatively little, is known about functions of: leaf variegation or colour red in leaves, various movements and shape changes in chloroplasts, the function of fall colour change in deciduous trees, or metallic colour blue in plants.As Lee explains it, “We assume, given the sophistication and spread of scientific research today, that such simple phenomena as plant color are well understood. There are several reasons explaining our relative ignorance about color, however, red leaves in particular. First, plants are not human diseases and don’t benefit from the largesse of National Institutes of Health. The few plants that are well-studied tend to be those that are economically the most important, such as maize and soybeans. Second, because anthocyanins are often responsible for the color of fruits and flowers, most research has focused on those… (so) the anthocyanins became early subjects of research in molecular genetics, rather than physiology…” p. 282 of the first hardcover edition.Indeed, the book covers anthocyanins- water-soluble pigments that produce blue, violet, and red colors in plants- most extensively and most in-depth, presumably because most is known about them.There are a few interesting and surprising facts in this book, at least for me. One of them is that colours in plants are produced through many different ways and through different chemicals, and the composition of some of those is still unknown. Neither did I realize how inefficient plants are in converting the solar energy into sugars- the optimal conversion rate being 1%. People don't seem to be extremely efficient, either, by the way. Their conversion rate of sugars into energy is at a surprisingly low 40%.Lee also ventures a bit into genetics of colour inheritance and how greenery and plant colours affect our well being, and how pigments have been utilized by humans throughout the ages. I would have probably wanted to have more questions answered, but it was a book I thoroughly enjoyed, especially while reading it in the garden and looking around at the whole array of colours around me.