A sure sign of fall, the vibrant red oaks show their color down in the valley of nine mile creek, Bloomington, MN (just south of Minneapolis, home of the Mall of America).
Did you know that leaves only turn yellow in Europe? I found this out at Riga Daily Photo (see his yellow-leaf photo). A recent discovery has lead scientists to speculate that the red coloring is a defense mechanism. When the green chlorophyll in leaves disappears in fall, the yellow color that was always there becomes visible. The trees that turn red actually go out of their way to do so. It seems that they do it to ward off insects. In Europe, the combination of Ice ages and the barrier of the Alps managed to kill off all the insects that would threaten the trees, so they don’t need to make the effort. For the full explanation, read this article I found At Science Daily: Why More Autumn Leaves Are Red In America And Yellow In Europe: New Theory
Ok…. this is getting funny. I think everyone had a moment of brain meld and decided we’d all post leaves today. You’re now the fifth photo I have come across with a leaf theme.
Hehe, at first I thought I’d clicked on the wrong link. Leaves everywhere. That europe thing is pretty interesting.
Fascinating read. Where were you when I was teaching third grade??? Well I think we might be lucky to have those fab red and orange leaves as well as the yellow.
Great photo. Tack sharp and beautiful.
V
Strange story, I bet you could win a bar bet with that.
The things we learn from the blogiverse.
Pretty darned interesting Mitch. I’ll hop over and check out the story, and nice shot of the leaves.