Current carnation cultivars have a wide range of flower colors, which is one of the important traits for the flower market. Since large numbers of commercial carnation cultivars bearing various flower colors and flower color patterns have been developed over the last few decades, a comprehensive understanding of the diversity of flower color characteristics has become difficult to achieve. In this study, 56 standard carnation cultivars and 54 spray carnation cultivars were collected and evaluated in terms of flower color and flower color pattern, two visual traits, and flower pigments. Visual flower color analysis indicated that the flower color pattern of the 110 cultivars could be categorized into five typical types and two minor types, and the five typical types were further classified into 16 sub-types. Additionally, flower colors of these carnations could be categorized into 15 hues. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis indicated that carnation flower color is basically determined by the combination of pelargonidin and cyanidin-based anthocyanins, chalcononaringenin 2'-O-glucoside and chlorophyll, giving cyanic, yellow and green color, respectively. Microscopic observation of the petal epidermis indicated that formation of anthocyanin aggregates in the vacuoles and cell shape affect color perceptions, either metallic or velvety, and this is involved in flower color diversification. A fundamental investigation of flower color characteristics will support further developments in flower-color breeding.

目前的康乃馨品种花色繁多，是花卉市场的重要特征之一。由于过去几十年开发了大量具有各种花色和花色图案的商业康乃馨品种，因此很难全面了解花色特征的多样性。本研究收集了 56 个标准康乃馨品种和 54 个喷雾康乃馨品种，并从花色和花色图案、两种视觉性状和花色素方面进行了评价。目测花色分析表明，110个品种的花色图案可分为5个典型类型和2个次要类型，5个典型类型又进一步划分为16个亚型。此外，这些康乃馨的花色可分为15种色调。高效液相色谱（HPLC）分析表明，康乃馨花的颜色基本上是由天竺葵素和花青素类花青素、查尔酮甙2'-O-葡萄糖苷和叶绿素，分别呈现青色、黄色和绿色。花瓣表皮的显微镜观察表明，液泡和细胞形状中花青素聚集体的形成影响颜色感知，金属色或天鹅绒色，这与花色多样化有关。对花色特征的基础研究将支持花色育种的进一步发展。