True Leaf Color Comes From Inside

During our last hike we all admired wide range of the autumn colors and I’ve learned from my eight-year old daughter that all these years I was wrong thinking that the true leaves color is green. 

That’s what she’s learned at the science lab:

“Trees begin to show their true colors in autumn.”

Here’s why. 

“The four primary pigments that produce color within a leaf are:

chlorophyll (green);

xanthophylls (yellow);

carotenoids (orange);

and anthocyanins (reds and purples).

During the warmer growing seasons, leaves produce chlorophyll to help plants create energy from light. The green pigment becomes dominant and covers the other pigments. 

Trees must replenish the chlorophyll because sunlight causes it to fade over time. As days get shorter and nights become longer, trees prepare for winter and the next growing season by blocking off flow to and from a leaf’s stem. This process stops green chlorophyll from being replenished and causes the leaf’s green color to fade.

The fading green allows a leaf’s true colors to emerge, producing the dazzling array of orange, yellow, red and purple pigments we refer to as fall foliage.”

Read more:
http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/leaves/leaves.htm

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/veg/trees/treestruecolor.htm 

painting by Urszula Glogowska