Pigmentation and Sexuality in Plants

Abstract

MANY angiosperms depend on insects or birds to accomplish pollination or seed dispersal, and the appropriate parts of the plants are brightly coloured, usually with carotenoid or flavonoid pigments. It is generally agreed that these pigments serve a useful purpose in attracting animal visitors, and therefore their presence has selective value; but while this may explain their production and maintenance in some angiosperms, it does not account for their original establishment in the plant kingdom. For carotenoids similar to those commonly found in flowers and fruits occur in all lower groups of plants, and anthocyanins (flavonoids) are found both in mosses¹ and in ferns². Hence there is reason for believing that both types of pigment were produced in plants long before angiosperms had evolved, and have some function or functions unconnected with attracting the attention of animals.