What’s behind the colours?

CONT’D

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different times in autumn.”

The chemicals Rotherham is referring to are Chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green colour.

Carotenoids (yellow, orange and brown), which colour fruit and vegetables like carrots, bananas and corn, are also ever present in leaves, but during the summer are covered by the chlorophyll.

The leaves of some tree species also include anthocyanin, which accounts for the deep red colour.

In the fall, when the days grow shorter and colder and the trees are ready to move into a dormant state, the chlorophyll breaks down and the other pigments in the leaves become more visible.

A number of factors also come into play; the weather in spring and summer can have an impact on how early or late colours change on the leaves. The health of the trees also plays a role in when and how vibrant the change in colour is from year to year.

According to Rotherham, the leaves of birches and poplars generally tend to turn yellow.

Maples are a different story. Red maples tend to go a reddish colour and turn quite early, while sugar maples stay on the more yellowish end of the spectrum.

Red oaks are prone to a dark, copperlike brown and hold their leaves for much longer than other trees, Rotherham said, referring to the view of Mount Orford travelling from Montreal into the Townships on the highway. “A whole bunch of those are oaks,” he said.

Ash trees turn early, and are usually a brownish hue, Rotherham added.

When asked what species of tree turns hot pink, like the species in this photograph, Rotherham said he couldn’t say without getting a good look at the tree in question.