L. Chittka et al., ULTRAVIOLET AS A COMPONENT OF FLOWER REFLECTIONS, AND THE COLOR-PERCEPTION OF HYMENOPTERA, Vision research, 34(11), 1994, pp. 1489-1508
Based on the measurements of 1063 flower reflection spectra, we show t
hat flower colours fall into distinct dusters in the colour space of a
bee. It is demonstrated that this clustering is caused by a limited v
ariability in the floral spectral reflectance curves. There are as few
as 10 distinct types of such curves, five of which constitute 85% of
all measurements. UV reflections are less frequent and always lower in
intensity than reflections in other parts of the spectrum. A further
cluster of colour loci is formed in the centre of the colour space. It
contains the colour loci of green leaves, several other background ma
terials and only very few flowers. We propose a system to classify the
reflection functions of flowers, and a set of colour names for bee co
lours.