Exercise 17

Starch as Indirect Evidence

of Photosynthesis
1A PH Group 3
PROCEDURE
Obtain two variegated leaves of Coleus (mayana):
a light leaf from light-exposed plant and dark
leaf from another plant exposed to darkness for 3-4
days. To identify the two, cut off the petiole for the
dark leaf.
Sketch the
variegation
pattern of the
leaves in column
A of question
sheet. Then,
place both in
boiling water for
three minutes.
Get the leaves and spread them in a Petri
dish containing a small amount of water.
Sketch any change in the variegation
pattern in column B.

Transfer both
leaves in boiling
95% alcohol for
five minutes.
Spread in the Petri dish with water, and
sketch any change in column C.
Add four drops of iodine solution to the
plate, agitate gently, and observe the
color reaction. Sketch in column D.
RESULTS

Dark brown
Dark brown
DISCUSSION
Anthocyanins are vacuolar pigments soluble in
water. They may appear red, blue, or violet. The
violet area of the mayana leaf mixed with the
water resulting to no change in color of the
water.

After placing the two leaves into the beaker of
boiling alcohol, the color of the alcohol changed
because it extracted the green pigment.
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in the
chloroplast of plants and soluble in alcohol.
Iodine solution is used as color indicator to
determine the presence of starch. If the color of
the leaf turns to blue-back, starch is present. The
places where green changed to blue-black
indicate that starch was present where the
chlorophyll was.

Normally, the light leaf will turn to blue/black
since it stored starch, whereas, the dark leaf
will not change in color. Starch is a carbohydrate
consisting of large number of glucose units.
Since the dark leaf was not able to undergo
photosynthesis (because of the absence of
light), it did not produce glucose.