This photograph of a mush mallow flower was taken using ultraviolet (UV) photography, in which special filters are used to eliminate visible light. It reveals fine stripes on the petals from pigment that strongly reflects UV, normally invisible to the human eye. We have to rely on photographic film to convert the ultraviolet light into colours we can see. Insects, however, can detect ultraviolet light and so would see this flower much as it appears here. The stripes on the petals guide insects to the flower's nectar in the center; the insects pick up pollen on their way.