  
Design of Color in Plants
 If
one does not reflect, one cannot see the miraculous characteristics
of the living beings around one. So long as one does not think
about how a butterfly with its membranous wings flies, how
the flowers one sees have such diversity of color, how the
top branches of hundreds of meters tall trees remain green,
one cannot grasp the subtleties of these. Even the extraordinary
artistry in a flower may not capture one's attention.
However, perfect artistry is clearly
displayed in all living beings from insects to birds, from
plants to sea creatures. Certainly this artistry belongs to
God Who is the Creator of all living things.
Let us think about plants, fruits,
vegetables, flowers, and trees. Plants, each having different
color, fragrances and tastes, are evidence of the artistry
in creation of God. Each plant you see around you or know
from books has color and patterns that are exclusive to its
kind. The reproductive process of each is different, the proportions
of nectar they contain and their fragrances are all different.
Let us think about roses. There are red, white, yellow, orange,
pink, white edged, double-colored, even roses with wavelike
color. Certainly, it would be great blindness for a man who
sees all this not to feel admiration for and not to glimpse
the endless might of God, Who is the Creator of all these
flowers. In the Qur'an, God refers to those who fail to appreciate
the evidence of the creation they see as follows:
How many Signs there are
in the heavens and earth! Yet they pass them by turning
away from them. Most of them do not have faith in God without
associating others with Him. (Qur'an, 12:105-106)
Have you ever thought about why plants are green?
As is obvious, the color prevailing in the world of plants
are green and shades of green. Chlorophyll is the main substance
producing green. Chlorophyll, a very important substance,
is a pigment contained in the chloroplasts scattered out in
the cytoplasm of the plant cell. These pigments absorb light
coming from the sun easily, but only reflect the color green.
In addition to giving the color green to leaves, this feature
also causes the fulfillment of a crucial process called "photosynthesis".
In photosynthesis, plants utilize sunlight, which consists
of the combination of different color. One of the most important
properties of the color in sunlight is that their energy levels
are different from one another. This assortment of color called
the spectrum, which is obtained by the refraction of color
in a prism for example, has red and yellow tones at one end,
and blue and violet tones at the other end. Color with the
highest level of energy are those color at the blue end of
the spectrum.
The difference in the energy levels between color is very
important for plants, because they need large amounts of energy
to make photosynthesis. For this reason, during photosynthesis,
plants absorb those sunrays of the highest energy levels towards
the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, i.e. violet and blue,
as well as the color that are more towards the infra-red (heat)
end of the spectrum, i.e. red, orange and yellow. Leaves carry
out all these processes through the chlorophyll pigment existing
in the chloroplasts.
For a plant to photosynthesize, the energy levels of the
light particles that are absorbed by the substance chlorophyll
must be adequate. The process of photosynthesis begins when
a plant, with the energy it receives from light particles,
breaks the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules.
Hydrogen reacts with carbon in the carbon dioxide gas to form
the sap of the plant, which is essential for the plant to
survive. In other words, the plant produces its own food.
Unused oxygen, on the other hand, is released to the air.
Most of the oxygen we breathe in the atmosphere is produced
that way.
As a result of the process of photosynthesis in plants, they
produce carbohydrates, one of the main food sources for other
living things. The substances produced during photosynthesis
are extremely important for plants themselves as well as for
animals and humans, because plants are the main source of
food of all living things on earth.
As we have seen, besides providing an aesthetic appearance,
the green color of plants is also extremely crucial for the
survival of both plants and other living creatures. God makes
the substance chlorophyll a cause for the nourishment of plants
and the sustenance of all other living creatures.
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