A team of scientists and growers in New Zealand has reinvented one of Japan's favorite flowers in a new range of colors.
The gentian, a flower native to the high alpine regions of Asia, Europe and the Americas, has always held a special place in Japanese homes and hearts. It is often used in flower arrangements and Buddhists traditionally offer gentians at the altars of their ancestors. It is the official flower of Nagano and Kumamoto cities.
Ninety percent of gentians are blue, and, apart from a smattering of white and pale pink, no other colors have been mass-produced.
That is until now.