Do blue mutants of cacti exist?

[keithp2012]

I know rarely yellow can occur instead of normal green, but what about blue?

[Brunãozinho]

From what I have read, the yellow and red color are something equivalent to the sunscreen of cacti, so, when cacti lack clorophil, these "sunscreen" colors become more evident.
Some cacti that have a very blueish color (like some popular Pilosocereus) are just natural plants with no mutation.

[keithp2012]

From what I have read, the yellow and red color are something equivalent to the sunscreen of cacti, so, when cacti lack clorophil, these "sunscreen" colors become more evident.
Some cacti that have a very blueish color (like some popular Pilosocereus) are just natural plants with no mutation.

So blue naturally occurring mutants are impossible, only red and yellow?

[Saxicola]

You can't get blue pigmentation in cacti. Any blue cactus is that way because of the glaucous or waxy coating that covers the plant. You can tell because if you rub one with a cloth it will turn green.

Blue is the least common natural pigment color in nature and for the most part if it doesn't exist in a group there is no way for it to suddenly appear. I'd guess less than 5% of plants have the genetic makeup to create blue pigmentation.

[keithp2012]

You can't get blue pigmentation in cacti. Any blue cactus is that way because of the glaucous or waxy coating that covers the plant. You can tell because if you rub one with a cloth it will turn green.

Blue is the least common natural pigment color in nature and for the most part if it doesn't exist in a group there is no way for it to suddenly appear. I'd guess less than 5% of plants have the genetic makeup to create blue pigmentation.

I got mixed up with animal pigmentation, as green iguana mutants occur in yellow or blue so I thought mabye plants could to?

[DaveW]

Cacti can't even have true blue flowers due to their chemical make up:-

"Why are there no cacti with blue flowers?

Plants colours are due to 2 main families of elements: betalaines and anthocyanes. There are other origins of colour, like chrorophyll, but the possibilities are rather limited. Betalaines and Anthocyanes are exclusive to each other, that means that a plant synthesizing anthocyanes cannot synthesise betalaines and vice versa. Most of the plant families use anthocyanes, except the Caryophyllaes, a super-family including beet, but also the mesembryanthemacae and the cacti.

The cacti's colourings are the betalaines, divided in 2 groups: the betaxanthines (yellow colour) and the betacyanines (red colour). A betalaine of blue colour does not exist (their chemical composition does not allow to give that colour), and so there will never be blue flowering cacti, neither Lithops.

Certain plants can be found having a tinge close to blue (Wittia amazonica for instance), but the colour (that actually is rather violet) is not due to a colouring but to the structure of the cells at the surface of the flowers." = Structural Colouration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.mattslandscape.com/detail/?p ... 0amazonica" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The coloured plants you refer to usually lack chlorophyll, or are partly lacking it.

[KittieKAT]

I have blue cacti, don't think they are mutants, i believe this is a melocactus azureus.. but i thought it was a Pilosocereus azureus (?)

[KittieKAT]

It only turns this beautiful blue inn full sun, when shady its a soft greenish/blue. It's kinda like when we go outside and get tanned and turn darker from the sun, same goes to these beautiful blue cacti and many Pilosocereus cacti

[keithp2012]

I have blue cacti, don't think they are mutants, i believe this is a melocactus azureus.. but i thought it was a Pilosocereus azureus (?)

It's still nice looking!

[adetheproducer]

There is a blue variety of echinocactus texensis on ebay, looks quite blue. Also pariodia magnifica or one of its many synonyms tbey can get nice blue tones.

[Saxicola]

Kat and Ade,

That blue coloration you see is what I was referring to in my post as the waxy covering (or glaucous coating) of the plant. Rub the skin of the plant and it will turn green. That isn't to diminish how attractive it can be, but it isn't blue pigment. Heck, even the waxy coating itself isn't blue, it is white.

[KittieKAT]

Better with the flash on my camera
You Can see how it's greene towards the bottom where the sundoesn't get to it that much, still nice looking reguardless

[KittieKAT]

I kno the cacti Isnt really blue, it only turns blue inn the sun, but you'd prob have to runs pretty hard to get to to be green, cause I've rubbed it and its still got the blue tint

[DaveW]

The blue epidermis colour on your Melocactus azureus and other cacti as Saxicola says is a wax coating refracting light which is usually produced as a sunscreen on the younger growth. Think of it like the bloom on a bunch of black grapes which if you rub them comes off. Alas it usually disappears with age and often is not produced in dull climates. We don't get Notocatus magnificus turning as blue in our UK climate where it tends to remain more green, unlike its waxy blue colour in hotter climates and in habitat:-

http://www.arkive.org/melocactus/melocactus-azureus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We see the parts of white light the plant epidermis reflects, not the ones it absorbs:-

http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~zawisch ... tzooE.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[modern.shaman]

Thailand growers have been able to create a blue/violet flowering astrophytum. I can't remember where I saw the photo.