Blue Poppy

According to Jennifer Schultz Nelson (Extension Educator, Horticulture) at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/dmp/palette/050403.html: "In world of flower breeding, the color blue is the "Holy Grail" of flower colors. ... The Himalayan Blue Poppy is one of the only true blue flowers in the world. They are native to the Himalayas, where summers are cool and moist. They grow as a woodland plant in well-drained, acidic soil, which keeps the blooms a clear shade of blue. The blue color is provided by the pigment delphinidin, named for being originally isolated from Delphinium. For the delphinidin in the flower to appear blue, the environment inside the plant's cells must be acidic. The soil provides this acid–otherwise the flowers appear pinkish-purple just like many flowers around the world. This "acid factor" is what makes blue such a rare find in the plant kingdom. Not only does a plant have to have the gene to make delphinidin in its flower cells, the plant must be able to maintain a level of acidity within the cell to make the pigment appear blue. Few plants can accomplish this."