Abstract: To explore the mechanism of leaf color formation in flowering kale, the contents of chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin in inner (colored leaves) and outer leaves (non-colored leaves) of 12 cultivars were studied. The result indicated that the content of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid in outer leaves for all cultivars gradually decreased during developmental stages. The chlorophyll content in outer leaves decreaseed apparently at ornamental stage, especially for Nagoya red, which is only 65.7% of that of seedling stage. Total chlorophyll content in inner leaves decreased more quickly than that in outer leaves, especially for Nagoya white with 96.1% decrease at ornamental phase compared to seedling stage. The carotenoid content of inner leaves at bolting stage was higher than that of ornamental stage. The ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b and carotenoid to chlorophyll for inner leaves was higher than that of outer leaves. Pigment contents were also different among different cultivars. in the growing period, with a significant difference observed among all varieties with the exception of carotenoid content which was similar in all varieties in seedling period. The the highest content of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, and carotenoid in outer leaves was observed in Nagoya red at seedling and ornamental stage, and the lowest in Pink crane. Carotenoid content was dramatically different among different cultivars except for those at seedling stage. There was no anthocyanin detected in all cultivars at seedling stage. Anthocyanin was only detected in inner leaves of purple cultivars at ornamental and bolting stage. Anthocyanin content was ranked in a decreasing order as Flamingoes, Osaka red, Peach crane, Nagoya red, Koju No. 2, Kamome, Pink crane.