The Black Petunia

The Holy Grail of many plant breeders has been to produce a truly black flower. British Blippers of a certain age might well remember The Black Tulip, a gripping TV series screened in 1956.

The breeders of Petunias now seem to have succeeded with Petunia Black Velvet. The flower is truly black, the shades of blue in the photograph are merely tricks of the light, and the yellow spots are stamens and pollen. Petunias originated in South America and are related to tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers