Distribution of flower colour in plants with large showy flowers at the Australian Alps

Range white 53.5%: yellow 21.3%: pink 6.3%: cream 6.3% %
Organism Plants
Reference Catherine Marina Pickering & Michelle Stock, Insect colour preference compared to flower colours in the Australian Alps, Nordic Journal of Botany, Volume 23, Issue 2, June 2003, Pages 217-223 link abstract
Method Abstract: "An apparent predominance of plant taxa with pale flowers in the alpine floras of Australia and New Zealand may be due to the prevalence of insects, such as flies, that prefer pale colours and the absence of other types of potential pollinators that are attracted to bright colours such as social bees and birds. In this study, the diversity of flower colours, and the preference of insects for different colours were examined for the largest contiguous alpine area in Australia, around Mt Kosciuszko."
Comments Abstract: "Out of an alpine flora of 204 taxa, 127 species were found to have large showy flowers. The most common flower colour among these taxa was white (53.5%), then yellow (21.3%), followed by pink (6.3%), and cream (6.3%). Only a handful of taxa had red, blue, brown, green, orange or purple flowers."
Entered by Uri M
ID 115230