64 Things That Are Purple

John Spacey, June 03, 2022

Purple is an extraordinarily rare color in nature that is produced with a combination of red and blue light. Although purple is generally rare, it is a quite common color for flowers, berries and fruit. These organisms likely evolved to use the color purple to stand out. Humans historically use purple for much the same purpose as the color was typically used to signal social status due to the expense of purple dye. In modern times, purple is more likely to signal individuality and quirky qualities. The following are common purple things.

Acai	Amethyst / Purple Quartz
Anko / Red Bean Paste	Artichokes
Azuki Beans	Beets
Bell Heathers	Bellflowers
Black Rice	Blackberries
Blackcurrants	Blueberries
Cabbage	Cherries
Clematis	Crocus
Dragonfruit	Eastern Indigo Snake
Eggplant	Elderberries
Foxgloves	Grape Jam / Jelly
Grapes	Jacaranda
Lavender	Lepidolite
Lilac	Lily of the Nile /Agapanthus
Lupine	Mangosteen
Morganite	Morning Glory
Octopuses	Orchids
Pansies	Passion Fruit
Petunia	Plums
Poi	Purple Asparagus
Purple Aster	Purple Barley
Purple Bell Pepper	Purple Carrots
Purple Cauliflower	Purple Corn / Purple Maize
Purple Emperor Butterfly	Purple Frog
Purple Martins	Purple Potatoes
Purple Star Apples	Quahog Clam Shells
Radishes	Red Lettuce
Red Onions	Redbor Kale / Purple Kale
Shallots	Sweet Potato
Tyrian Purple	Ube / Purple Yams
Ube Halaya	Verbena
Violets	Wisteria

Tyrian purple is an ancient purple dye produced from murex sea snails. It was historically extremely expensive and was the only known purple dye of reasonable quality until the modern age produced synthetics such as Manganese violet. The expense of Tyrian purple gave purple much status in ancient and medieval Europe.

Some things that are perceived as black such as blackberries and black rice are in fact dark purple.