Study on the factors of flower color development in Tradescantia albiflora

The research focused on the chemical basis for the flower colour development of Tradescantia albiflora. The methods of different color measurement（the Royal Hortieultural Society Colour Chart and spectrophotometer), observation by microscope, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used in this study. The results are as follows: the flower colour of Tradescantia albiflora belongs to the Violet group (N88B), pigments accumulates in the adaxial and abaxial layers and the colored cell mass is 20-30m in depth. The main metal ions in the violet petals were found to be Ca (5 120.89 gg-1)and Mg (2 360.71 gg-1). The key pigments in Tradescantia albiflora petals were cyanidin (6.671 1 mgg-1) and delphinidin (0.674 4 mgg-1) , the main flavonols was Kaempferol (0.327 2 mgg-1). The conclusion is delphinidin and cyanidin with Ca2+, Mg2+ being essential for the violet flower colour development of Tradescantia albiflora.