Flower and fruit colour variability in Indian spinach (Basella alba)

Abstract

Flower and fruit colours are complex traits whose
expressions are dependent on a number of factors
including genetic, environmental and physiological.
Basella alba, commonly known as ‘Malabar spinach’/
‘Indian spinach’ are important leafy vegetable blessed
with immense nutraceutical values. These are endowed
with a special group of plant pigment betalains, giving
them a range of colours to the stem, leaf, flowers and
fruits. Betalains are being reported as a source of high
quality natural colourant with immense nutraceutical
values . Betalains are found only in the order
Caryophyllales and in some higher fungi with exception
to the Caryophyllaceae and Molluginaceae,