Black flowers contain a specific combination of coloured pigments (just like a black ink cartridge, which is a combination of purple, blue, red and yellow.) Genuine black flowers, however, do not exist in nature.

Not a chance.

Most of the black flowers we see in nurseries or catalogues were created by years of painstaking artificial selection of flowers with darker and darker petals. Most success has come from cross-breeding deep purple flowers until they look - to the untrained eye - black

Dark plants

According to botanists, there are over 2,750 varieties of dark plants, whose flowers come deceptively close to black. Most experts agree that flowers native to Guatemala and southern Mexico, such as Lisianthus nigrescens, come very close to the real thing.

These flowers are dark because the pigments in their petals absorb red, green, yellow and blue light. With all the light being absorbed and none reflected back, they appear black.

Are you still with me?

Most flowers are bright colours to attract insects. Nearly black flowers have markings that can be seen by an insect's eye or under ultraviolet light. These markings are thought to guide the insect to the nectar.

Because black flowers make such striking ornamental plants (especially when paired with silver foliage), if you managed to grow your own, coddle them! They are valuable specimens.