Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) 
and Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
We wanted to see how flower color and anti-oxidants played a role in the type of plant in each habitat. Both of these plants can live in three environments: sunny, shady, or partly sunny and shady. We roped off plots in each area, counted the number of plants, their flower colors, heights, number of leaves, and even timed to see how many pollinators visit a plant. Even with all the bird and the bees, my flowers got little to no action. But that’s okay, after snapping off some petals and leaves, we dashed off to the lab to measure antioxidant concentrations.
So what are antioxidants? They protect us (or plants in this case) against harmful rays from the sun. Garlic mustard or Dame´s rocket may have adapted higher antioxidant concentrations allowing them to grow in sunnier locations.
The verdict: the shadier the location, the more antioxidants the plant has, probably because the plant doesn’t have to use antioxidants as much in the shade. My group noticed a lot of purple flowers in sunny and shady habitats but not so many white flowers in partly sunny and shady habitats.
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