Abstract:

Flower color is one of the most important ornamental characters. This study is the first report on the polymorphism of flower color of the ornamental sunflower. The floral color was measured according to the Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart (RHSCC) and by a NF333 spectrophotometer. And UV-Visible spectra of flower pigments were performed. The results indicated that the floral color of the ornamental sunflower includes the red group and the yellow group. The results also showed that there are 9 anthocyanins of all 36 ornamental sunflower genotypes. Only one anthocyanin was detected in all 36 experimental materials. The results of the multilevel mass spectrum showed that the anthocyandin of the sunflower was cyanidin. The cyanidin was combined to glucose, rhamnose and/or arabinose to form glucosides. But we did not detect the cyanin in the pure yellow sunflower. This supposes that the cyanin was the matter of the red group of the ornamental sunflower.

Key words: ornamental sunflower, ray flower, flower color, polymorphism, anthocyanin