Leaf Color.

10-29-10 SHORT HILLS: We’re back to seasonal weather and might get a first frost in the next few nights. The big storm that ravaged the mid-west was exhausted by the time it got here, and all we had was a breezy day and, maybe, a quarter inch of rain.

The deciduous trees are busy conserving nutrients and energy stores generated in and by the leaves and storing them in the trunks and roots for the winter. This is why the leaves lose the green color, which comes from chlorophyll, and display the yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and reds we all love. The yellows are from carotenoids which also color carrots, of course, other veggies and egg yolks. The carotenoids are present in the leaf all season but only appear when the green is gone. The reds are from anthocyanins. These chemicals are produced when chlorophyll production ceases. Why? They may repel aphids from over-wintering eggs on the tree, or they may, after leaf fall, suppress the growth of competing tree species.

Nothing a plant spends energy on is frivolous or wasted, but is a hard-won trait providing some survival advantage resulting from years of evolutionary wars.


Borrowed from Wikepedia, authored by the USDA Forest Service.


Another maple. Does it look different now that we know a little more about it?