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There are actually lots of blue flowers. I think what you mean is that "true blue" doesn't exist in ALL flowers, but what is called "blue" is kinda close, and still beautiful.
Amsonia
Lobelia
Delphinium
Nigella
Pansy (Viola hybrid)
In some flowers, the blue is caused by an actual blue pigment. In others, "blue" tones result from the chemical breakdown of red pigments.
In birds, most "blue" color is the result of refraction. The pigment in blue jays is melanin, which is brownish-blackish. The pigment is deposited within the feather, and the structure of the feather causes the light to bend, changing the light from brownish-blackish to blue. This is the same process that gives peafowl their blue color. Similarly, china-blue eyes in people result from melanin being deposited only in the back of the iris, and the structure of the eye bends the light and we see the color blue. People with brown eyes have melanin in the front layers of the iris as well, which is too close to the surface for the light to be bent to blue shades. The variations from brown to green to blue irises result from the amount and pattern of melanin distributed in this front layer.
The reason I mention this is that we know that there isn't a "blue" pigment in chickens, but there is melanin. We know that birds with melanin can appear blue due to refraction. I think that if there was a mutation (or two, or three...) in chickens which caused the refraction present in blue jays (melanin deposited within the feather, not overlaid, with enough outer unpigmented layers and structure to bend the light), then a "true blue" chicken could happen.
There are actually lots of blue flowers. I think what you mean is that "true blue" doesn't exist in ALL flowers, but what is called "blue" is kinda close, and still beautiful.
Amsonia
Lobelia
Delphinium
Nigella
Pansy (Viola hybrid)
In some flowers, the blue is caused by an actual blue pigment. In others, "blue" tones result from the chemical breakdown of red pigments.
In birds, most "blue" color is the result of refraction. The pigment in blue jays is melanin, which is brownish-blackish. The pigment is deposited within the feather, and the structure of the feather causes the light to bend, changing the light from brownish-blackish to blue. This is the same process that gives peafowl their blue color. Similarly, china-blue eyes in people result from melanin being deposited only in the back of the iris, and the structure of the eye bends the light and we see the color blue. People with brown eyes have melanin in the front layers of the iris as well, which is too close to the surface for the light to be bent to blue shades. The variations from brown to green to blue irises result from the amount and pattern of melanin distributed in this front layer.
The reason I mention this is that we know that there isn't a "blue" pigment in chickens, but there is melanin. We know that birds with melanin can appear blue due to refraction. I think that if there was a mutation (or two, or three...) in chickens which caused the refraction present in blue jays (melanin deposited within the feather, not overlaid, with enough outer unpigmented layers and structure to bend the light), then a "true blue" chicken could happen.
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