Anyone who follows trends will have heard of this substance. Chlorophyll is not only a natural colour pigment, but also a real superfood! And let this special substance be the reason why your plant has beautiful green or variegated leaves. How it works, we tell you here:
What is chlorophyll?
Chlorophyll is a pigment that gives plants a green colour, among other things, and it comes in various forms. The darker green the leaf, the more chlorophyll it generally contains.
Chlorophyll can absorb certain light waves. As plants only contain chlorophyll a and b, they can absorb red and blue light waves. However, it cannot absorb the green part of the light spectrum, so the green light is reflected back. This makes the plant look green.
Photosynthesis
Besides giving plants their green colour, chlorophyll is also important for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll helps to convert sunlight into energy. This stored energy is used by photosynthesis to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen. The glucose, together with the nutrients from the soil, serves as food for the plants. The oxygen produced is released into the air.
Rarity
When a plant has an uneven distribution of chlorophyll, variegata may appear on the leaves. Variegata (parts without chlorophyll) can look like complete zones, spots, stripes or speckles. This variegata is created by nature and is therefore often very special and rare. Some examples of special variegata plants from our webshop are: Philodendron billietiae Variegata, Aglaonema pictum Tricolor, Monstera adansonii Variegated Albo, Philodendron Paraiso Verde and Philodendron Jose Buono.
Variegata has its advantages and disadvantages. Apart from making the plant unique and rare, it also makes the plant a little more vulnerable. A variegata plant is of course a true feast for the eye, but variegata is also very sensitive to burning from too much direct sunlight. In addition, the variegata parts are also less strong. As a result, these parts of the plant can be damaged more easily. Furthermore, the variegata parts of the plant cannot convert sunlight into nutrition. This often causes variegata plants to grow a little slower. However, in our opinion this is no reason to renounce a variegata plant. These rare gems are well worth that little extra care!
Superfood
Chlorophyll can also be found today as a superfood in many shops in all forms. It is sold in powder form, as a supplement, pill, capsule or in drink form. The best way to get chlorophyll is, and remains, through healthy food. For example, parsley, green beans and spinach are vegetables that contain a lot of chlorophyll. Watercress, algae and certain green grasses are also rich sources of chlorophyll.
Miracle cure
Chlorophyll contains many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And despite the lack of scientific evidence, a range of health benefits is attributed to chlorophyll. If all the reports are to be believed, it could help with skin conditions, weight loss and purifying the blood, among other things. But is this really the case?
Since not much scientific research has been done on chlorophyll, there is unfortunately not much known about its possible side effects.
For the time being, we will stick to admiring the chlorophyll, or its absence, in our (partially) green, rare beauties!
