Flower Color Database

The Flower Color API provides access to spectral reflectance data from 2,509 flower species, allowing you to search for flowers by color and understand how they appear to both humans and pollinators.

Data Source

The data comes from the Floral Reflectance Database (FReD), a scientific database maintained by researchers studying plant-pollinator interactions:

Arnold SEJ, Faruq S, Savolainen V, McOwan PW, Chittka L, 2010 FReD: The Floral Reflectance Database — A Web Portal for Analyses of Flower Colour. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14287. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014287

What is Spectral Reflectance?

Unlike simple RGB color picking, spectral reflectance measures how much light a flower reflects at each wavelength across the visible spectrum (300-700nm). This provides:

Accurate color representation under different lighting conditions
Bee vision simulation - how pollinators perceive flower colors
Scientific reproducibility for research applications

Quick Start

Find Flowers by Color

curl "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/by-color?color=purple&limit=10"

The API accepts colors as:

Names: red, lavender, coral
Hex codes: #FF5733 or FF5733
RGB values: rgb(255,87,51) or 255,87,51

Filter by Taxonomic Family

curl "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/by-color?color=yellow&family=Asteraceae"

Get Available Families

curl "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/families"

Understanding Bee Vision

Bees perceive colors differently than humans. They have trichromatic vision with three types of photoreceptors:

Channel	Peak Sensitivity	Human Equivalent
UV	~340nm	Invisible to us
Blue	~430nm	Blue
Green	~540nm	Green

Key Differences

Bees cannot see red - Red flowers appear dark/black to bees
Bees see ultraviolet - Many flowers have UV patterns invisible to humans
“Bee purple” - UV + Blue appears as a unique color to bees

Bee Color Categories

The bee_colour field indicates the flower’s appearance to bee vision:

Category	Description
`UV`	Primarily reflects ultraviolet
`blue`	Primarily reflects blue wavelengths
`blue-green`	Reflects both blue and green
`green`	Primarily reflects green
`UV-blue`	”Bee purple” - reflects UV and blue
`UV-green`	Reflects UV and green
`white`	Broad-spectrum reflector

Color Matching Algorithm

The API uses CIE LAB color space for perceptual color matching. LAB was designed to be perceptually uniform - a given distance in LAB space corresponds to approximately the same perceived color difference regardless of where in the color space you are. The color_distance field in results represents Delta E (ΔE), where:

< 5: Colors are very similar
5-10: Noticeable difference but still related
10-30: Clearly different colors
> 30: Very different colors

Example: Building a Color Palette

Find flowers that would create a harmonious color palette:

import requests

# Get purple flowers
purple = requests.get(
    "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/by-color",
    params={"color": "purple", "limit": 5}
).json()

# Get complementary yellow flowers
yellow = requests.get(
    "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/by-color",
    params={"color": "yellow", "limit": 5}
).json()

print("Purple flowers:")
for f in purple["matches"]:
    print(f"  {f['scientific_name']}: {f['hex']}")

print("\nYellow flowers:")
for f in yellow["matches"]:
    print(f"  {f['scientific_name']}: {f['hex']}")

Example: Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Find flowers that are highly visible to bees:

import requests

# Get flowers with strong UV reflection (highly visible to bees)
uv_flowers = requests.get(
    "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/flowers/by-color",
    params={"color": "purple", "bee_colour": "UV-blue", "limit": 10}
).json()

for f in uv_flowers["matches"]:
    print(f"{f['scientific_name']} ({f['family']})")
    print(f"  Human sees: {f['human_colour']}")
    print(f"  Bee sees: {f['bee_colour']}")

Data Fields

Full Record (GET /v1/flowers/)

The complete record includes:

{
  "id": 1670,
  "taxonomy": {
    "family": "Ranunculaceae",
    "genus": "Anemone",
    "species": "coronaria",
    "full_name": "Anemone coronaria"
  },
  "collection": {
    "country": "Israel",
    "town": "Mishor Adummin",
    "collector": "Chittka",
    "publication": "Menzel R and Shmida A. 1993 Biol. Rev. 68:81-120"
  },
  "classification": {
    "plant_section": "radially symmetric, whole flower upper side",
    "human_colour": "white",
    "bee_colour": "blue"
  },
  "color_spaces": {
    "colour_triangle": {
      "x": -0.024,
      "y": 0.077,
      "quantum_flux": {
        "uv": 0.350,
        "blue": 0.419,
        "green": 0.320
      }
    },
    "colour_hexagon": {
      "x": -0.015,
      "y": 0.044,
      "excitation": {
        "uv": 0.259,
        "blue": 0.295,
        "green": 0.242
      }
    }
  },
  "computed_color": {
    "rgb": [255, 248, 240],
    "hex": "#fff8f0",
    "lab": [97.8, 1.2, 3.4]
  }
}

Color Space Coordinates

Colour Triangle: Position in bee color triangle based on photoreceptor excitation
Colour Hexagon: Chittka’s color hexagon for perceptual distance calculations
COC: Color opponent coding coordinates

Database Statistics

Metric	Value
Total flowers	2,509
Plant families	108
Countries	45+
Wavelength range	300-699nm
Resolution	1nm

API Endpoints Summary

Endpoint	Description
`GET /v1/flowers/by-color`	Find flowers matching a color
`GET /v1/flowers/families`	List all plant families
`GET /v1/flowers/human-colours`	List human color categories
`GET /v1/flowers/bee-colours`	List bee color categories
`GET /v1/flowers/{id}`	Get complete flower record

Getting started

Core Concepts

Flower Color Database

Data Source

What is Spectral Reflectance?

Quick Start

Find Flowers by Color

Filter by Taxonomic Family

Get Available Families

Understanding Bee Vision

Key Differences

Bee Color Categories

Color Matching Algorithm

Example: Building a Color Palette

Example: Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Data Fields

Full Record (GET /v1/flowers/)

Color Space Coordinates

Database Statistics

API Endpoints Summary

​Data Source

​What is Spectral Reflectance?

​Quick Start

​Find Flowers by Color

​Filter by Taxonomic Family

​Get Available Families

​Understanding Bee Vision

​Key Differences

​Bee Color Categories

​Color Matching Algorithm

​Example: Building a Color Palette

​Example: Pollinator-Friendly Garden

​Data Fields

​Full Record (GET /v1/flowers/)

​Color Space Coordinates

​Database Statistics

​API Endpoints Summary

Data Source

What is Spectral Reflectance?

Quick Start

Find Flowers by Color

Filter by Taxonomic Family

Get Available Families

Understanding Bee Vision

Key Differences

Bee Color Categories

Color Matching Algorithm

Example: Building a Color Palette

Example: Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Data Fields

Full Record (GET /v1/flowers/)

Color Space Coordinates

Database Statistics

API Endpoints Summary