What do dolphins and the Tatra Mountains have in common?

In 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote his work Zur Farbenlehre ('Theory of Colours'), in which he described each colour along with its 'sensory-moral effect'. His romantic view of the world prevented him from accepting Newton's theory that colours are merely diffracted light. In his view, colours arose at the boundary between light, shadow and the human eye.

"There is something contradictory about blue. As a cool colour, it evokes a sense of coldness, yet at the same time it stirs our longing for purity and infinity. On the walls of a room, it gives a sense of emptiness, but it also has a calming effect," he wrote. The latest scientific research indicates that exposure to blue light may indeed lower blood pressure.

In many cultures, blue has had strong symbolic significance and has been perceived as protective, spiritual, associated with the sky and purification. In Podhale or Kurpie, blue thread was woven into folk embroidery to protect the wearer from the 'evil eye'. Blue is also the colour of the Virgin Mary in the Catholic tradition. It symbolises the divine presence in Judaism. The god Krishna has blue skin, and the Navajo people believed that turquoise protected against evil spirits.

In ancient Greece, blue dye was obtained, among other sources, from the larkspur. In the most important herbal of antiquity, Dioscorides' De materia medica, the larkspur appears under the name delphinion, derived from the word delphis (dolphin), as the buds and elongated petals of the larkspur's flowers reminded the researchers describing it of the silhouette of a dolphin.

When, 1,600 years later, Carl Linnaeus developed the modern system of plant classification, he drew upon the Greek and Latin terms used by ancient authors. And it is precisely Delphinium oxysepalum that forms the link between dolphins and the Tatra Mountains, as the Polish name for this beautiful flower is the Tatra larkspur.

Tatra, because it is a plant that grows exclusively in these mountains – it cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We call such plants endemics. It is an endangered species and is listed in the Polish Red Book of Plants.

According to research, less than 7–10% of all flowering plants in the world produce blue inflorescences. This is most likely because the biochemical processes required to produce the blue colour are extremely energy-intensive. The main pollinators of the Tatra larkspur are bumblebees, which can see shades of blue and ultraviolet well.

And besides, blue goes well with dolphins. But I suppose that doesn't really matter.