This fruit attracts birds with an unusual way of making itself metallic blue

Thursday, August 6, 2020 - 11:31 in Biology & Nature

Instead of relying solely on pigments, the metallic blue fruits of Viburnum tinus use structural color to reflect blue light, a mechanism rarely seen in plants. Researchers show that the fruits use lipid nanostructures in their cell walls, a previously unknown mechanism of structural color, to get their striking blue -- which may also double as a signal to birds that the fruits are full of nutritious fats.

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