Leaf color attributes of urban colored-leaf plants

Abstract

Abstract Plant color was an important landscape of the urban green space, and quantitative analysis of its characteristics could provide a basis for plant color configuration. The leaf color attributes of 80 colored-leaf plants were studied and the Scenic Beauty Estimates (SBE) was used to evaluate their beauty. The data of leaves color were obtained by MATLAB software and scanner under the hue–saturation–brightness (HSB) system and then were further analyzed to determine the relationship between the SBE and color attributes (HSB). Results showed that the leaf colors of 80 plants contained 13 hues in total, which belonged to six color systems. The species contained in different color systems, from most to least, were yellow–green series (27 species) > orange series (19 species) > red series (18 species) > yellow series (10 species) > blue-green (four species) > purple (two species). There were fewer blue and purple series species. The brightness and saturation of color were mainly distributed in the middle (26–50%), middle and high (51–75%) stages, and those of the yellow–green system belonged to the medium and high stages and were significantly higher than other color systems. There is a significant positive correlation between the brightness and saturation of color and the value of SBE, and an SBE evaluation model was established based on the color attributes. The results are helpful to select plants with higher beauty and create a rich plant color landscape.