antholeucin

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek ἄνθος (ánthos, flower) and λευκός (leukós, white) and the suffix +‎ -in.

Noun[edit]

antholeucin (uncountable)

  1. (botany, obsolete) A substance isolated from flowers and thought to act as a white pigment.
    • 1886, S. H. Vines, “Lecture XII”, in Lectures on the Physiology of Plants[1], page 242:
      The dissolved colouring-matters are, in white flowers, antholeucin, in blue anthocyanin.
    • 1889 December, J. H. Pillsbury, “Biological Notes”, in The American Monthly Microscopical Journal[2], volume 10, number 12, page 276:
      This in the case of yellow flowers is anthoxanthin; of white flowers, antholeucin; of blue flowers, anthocyanin, etc.
    • 1920, John Arthur Thomson, Biology of the Seasons[3], page 92:
      There is such a thing as white flower-pigment (antholeucin), but in most cases the petals or sepals are white, just as foam is white, because of innumerable gas-bubbles in the cells.