Evening star., 1938-09-03
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Stan Correspondent.

by 1HOMAS II. HENRY,
Star staf1 Correspondent.
CAMBRIDGE, England (by maiD -
Isolation Of so or more of natures
own beauty lotions. the chemical sub
stances responsible for the bewildering
array of colors in spring flowers, has
just been reported here.
From the etheral blues and yellows
| Of the crocus to the reds and pinks
Of the rose. they are most Of them
simple compounds of hydrogen, oxygen
and sugar which might be synthesized
IN the laboratory. it is revealed by the
researches of Drs. w. j. c. Lawrence
and j. r. Price, English chemists.
This particular group of compounds.
they found, are responsible for all the
reds. scarlets and blues in the flower
| garden and all the combinations of
these colors. These are the antho-
cyanins. They differ from color to
color only in the number of combina-
tions of. hydrogen-oxygen atoms and
their arrangement with respect to one
or more molecules of sugar in the pig
ment.
The more oxygen atoms which can
be attached to the molecule, the bluer
the flower. Blueness also is increased
markedly by slight change in the
position which one or more molecules
OF sugar have IN the combination.
Hydrogen Causes Redness.
Redness. they found, is almost en-
tirely the result OF removing a HYDRO
gen atom from the pigment and re-
placing it with a carbon atom. The
more this transformation is affected,
the redder the flower. BY juggling
the molecule, they found, IL specific
flower colors ranging from scarlet to
purple are produced.
Closely related to this same chemi-
cal structure, they found, are the
anthoxanthins, which are responsible
Tor the colors ranging from pale ivory
70 deep yellow. In these cases an
increase in the number of hydrogen
oxygen combinations in the pigment
molecule results in an increase in
yelloWness. Both anthocyanins and
anthoxanthins, they found, usually are
present in the same blossom and their
combination in various degrees is re-
! sponsible for the vast host of delicate
pastel shades to be found in the old
fashioned flower garden.
| Inc two chemists have found evi-
dence, they report, that both these
classes OF flower pigment. chemically
very similar, are synthesized by the
plant itself from some common simpler
substance, as yet unknown. The plant
is ike country girl with no drug
store around the corner, obliged to
make her own rouge and face paints
from the odds and ends she can nick
up IN the kitchen; in the case of tho
mower, the sugar and hydrogen
oxygens of its own leaves and stem,
Like Country Girl.
otlll like the country girl, thev
found, the flower often cannot make
up its mind what sort of color it
wants. 1t has only limited amount
OF material to work with, and once a
pigment has been produced the
process cannot be reversed If it starts
out with blue-red complex, there will
De almost nothing left when it de-
cldes to mix up some yellow. This re-
suits In some Of the delicately flushed
flowers whose colors are far bevond
the ability of the artist to reproduce
and are the pride of florists.
Perhaps the subtlest of the f7owers'
beauty secrets, the two chemists
found. is to mix little ivory anthox-
anthin with lot of blue anthocvsnjn
The ivory shade itself is completelv
masked by some process as vet un-
known; 1t combines with the domi-
nant pigment to produce a deeper
blue. The same process works to q
lesser extent with other colors in the
scarlet-purple range and, the chemists
estimate, at least 70 per cent of the
common garden blossoms have made
use OF this secret to some extent.
A third class of flower paints on
natures toilet shelf, they found are
the plastid pigments which are SINH
lar in chemical makeup to the
carotin which is responsible for the
yellow OF carrots. These may be used
alone or in combination with either
OF the other types of pigment. In the
latter cases they serve merely as a
base for the other garden face paints.
resulting in some of the most exquisite
combinations. Thus in the tulip the
introduction Of one of the yellow plas-
It'd pigments changes the color from
pink, crimson or purple to orange.
scarlet or brown, respectively.
Object Is to Aid Breeder.
The object Of the work, the chem
lists stress, has not been to take the
mystery out of = nature by reducing
the beauty of spring to a series of
chemical formula, but to get at fun
damental information for the plant
breeder by which he can produce
still lovelier combinations of colors
Just how each flower mixes its beauty
paints. they find, is quite rigidly pre-
scribed for it by heredity. Hitherto
the color that would result from cross
ing two flowers of different pigments
has been a purely hit-or-miss propo-
Sition.
For the most part, they have found
by breeding experiments, the produc-
ton OF any one of the fundamental
types Of pigment is controlled by a
single gene passed on for countless
generations through the seeds. The
color of any individual cross depends
on the strength of the various color
genes represented in the plants an
cestry. Some. they ind, can be
mixed successfully and In predictable