Pollination is an essential process in all ecosystems and is regulated by many factors, the aspect presented flowers to insects is one of them. Recent research, conducted by a group of the University of Murcia, have shown that the petals of the flowers of Mirabilis jalapa emit a particular pattern of fluorescence and suggested that this could be a new signal involved in pollination.

The authors describe the presence in the petals of this species, two pigments, one betaxantin betacyanin yellow and violet. The betaxantin is a pigment that absorb blue light emits green fluorescence, while the betacyanin has the capacity to absorb the light emitted by the first. When the two molecules are close enough in