The real reason leaves change
It’s finally cold in Cambridge, and I can get out my big sweaters and start preparing for winter. I love autumn up here, for its gorgeous crisp days. The sky has finally lost its summer haze, and I can look east along Somerville Avenue and see downtown Boston in all its glory. I haven’t written much in these pages the last several weeks, simply because I’ve been so busy at work, and now I feel as if I’ve tragically wasted the last bit of summer.
The red maples in town have finally fully changed, becoming a fiery flame of color. Things have been strangely stalled during our Indian summer. Since I’m on the subject, I should clear up one common misconception. It is simply not true that the red color was always there in the leaves, hidden behind the green of the chlorophyll. For some reason textbooks still teach this, but it’s been known for some time that the red anthocyanin pigments are actively produced in the fall, although why the plant does this is not known. In contrast, the yellow pigment of some leaves, which are caused by caretonoids, really were there all the time under the green.
I wish nature were simpler, but it’s not. As one of my professors said: “Nature reveals few of her secrets to the ignorant and none to the lazy.”
The red maples in town have finally fully changed, becoming a fiery flame of color. Things have been strangely stalled during our Indian summer. Since I’m on the subject, I should clear up one common misconception. It is simply not true that the red color was always there in the leaves, hidden behind the green of the chlorophyll. For some reason textbooks still teach this, but it’s been known for some time that the red anthocyanin pigments are actively produced in the fall, although why the plant does this is not known. In contrast, the yellow pigment of some leaves, which are caused by caretonoids, really were there all the time under the green.
I wish nature were simpler, but it’s not. As one of my professors said: “Nature reveals few of her secrets to the ignorant and none to the lazy.”
