Purple, red, and golden flowers: Where do hemp's colors come from?
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Playback time 5 min
CONTENTS
You’ve probably come across a purple, red, or almost golden CBD flower before and wondered if its color has anything to do with its composition. Let me explain what’s really going on inside the plant—and, most importantly, what—or what it doesn’t—that color can tell you about your flower.
Things to remember
- Red and purple hues are primarily due to anthocyanins, plant pigments whose production depends largely on genetics.
- Temperature and light can affect their accumulation during growth.
- A colorful flower isn't automatically better, higher in CBD, or more potent than a green flower.
Anthocyanins, the pigments that give flowers their purple color
The answer to the color purple lies primarily in anthocyanins. These are plant pigments belonging to the flavonoid family. They are found in many plants and contribute to the red, purple, or bluish hues of various plants.
In Cannabis sativa, several anthocyanins have been identified in the leaves, stems, and inflorescences. Among them, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, also known as keracyanin, appears to be a major pigment in the purple or red tissues studied.
Anthocyanin production involves a series of biochemical reactions controlled by various genes and transcription factors. Recent research has identified several genes associated with this biosynthetic pathway in cannabis.
Genetics plays the leading role
Genetics, in a sense, provides the blueprint that enables the plant to produce certain pigments. Some strains are therefore predisposed to accumulate more anthocyanins. Others produce very few, even under similar environmental conditions.
In fact, researchers observed a wide variety of pigmentation among several genotypes grown in the same environment. Some plants had green tissues, while others developed red or purple hues.
Color, therefore, does not depend solely on what the grower does. A purple flower is not necessarily one that has undergone a special treatment to change its color. In certain strains, this pigmentation is simply one of the plant’s natural characteristics.
Why can temperature cause a flower to turn purple?
Temperature influences several physiological mechanisms in plants and can affect anthocyanin production.
Be careful, however, not to treat this as a miracle cure. A drop in temperature alone is not enough to turn just any flower purple. If the plant lacks the genetic ability to produce enough anthocyanins, it won’t suddenly turn purple just because the nights are cooler.
Temperature therefore affects a plant that already possesses the biological mechanisms that enable this pigmentation.
Light also plays a role in color
Light also influences anthocyanin production in plants. Certain wavelengths, particularly in the blue and ultraviolet regions, can stimulate the expression of genes involved in their biosynthesis.
This is particularly interesting for crops grown under controlled lighting conditions. The quality and intensity of light can affect how a plant expresses certain traits.
Same variety, same temperature, same lighting, but two plants with different pigmentation. A flower’s color is therefore the result of several factors that come together during its growth.
What about red or gold flowers?
Purple is the easiest to recognize, but it's not the only color you might come across.
Anthocyanins can contribute to red or reddish hues, depending on their concentration, composition, and the plant tissue in question.
For golden or yellow hues, the explanation is different. Anthocyanins are not responsible for these colors. Other plant pigments, particularly carotenoids, can contribute to yellow or orange hues.
The visible color also depends on the relative amounts of chlorophylls and pigments present in the tissues. As chlorophyll levels decrease during ripening, the other pigments may become more visible.
That is why a flower may exhibit different shades depending on its stage of development, its genetics, and its growing conditions.
Does a purple flower necessarily have a higher CBD content?
That's the question Mama was waiting for, and the answer is no. Color and CBD concentration correspond to different biological processes.
Researchers observed thatthe accumulation of anthocyanins responded to temperature fluctuations in a different way than CBD. Under their experimental conditions, the mechanisms associated with pigmentation and those associated with CBD did not, therefore, follow exactly the same trajectory.
A purple flower can therefore contain a lot of CBD… or less. A perfectly green flower can also have a high CBD concentration.
Color alone does not provide sufficient information to determine a flower’s freshness, cultivation method, or complete composition. It primarily provides visual information about certain pigments and how the plant has expressed them.
Color is no substitute for analysis
A spectacular color may catch the eye, but it doesn't reveal the exact cannabinoid profile.
To find out how much CBD, CBG, or THC a flower contains, you need to refer to a laboratory analysis. To determine whether there are any contaminants and to verify the traceability of the CBD, you should also review the corresponding analyses.
Article written by Benjamin Poirel-Nadal
Passionate about natural well-being and plants with multiple virtues, I've been exploring the benefits of CBD and its various forms for several years.
My aim? To share with you clear information, honest opinions and practical advice to help you integrate CBD into your daily life with confidence and serenity.
