Autumn Coats of Many Colors
By Patti Hutchison
Yellow, orange, red, and brown leaves flutter in the wind. They pile up on the lawn and
we have to rake and rake. Have you ever wondered why leaves turn bright colors when the air is
frosty?
Many stories are told to explain why leaves turn color in the fall. Some say a lively Jack
Frost paints the leaves with his ice-cold fingers. He takes red, orange, and gold and tints each
leaf perfectly.
Native Americans tell a story about hunting the Great Bear in the sky. Blood from the
bear drips on some of the leaves, turning them red. When the meat is cooked, golden fat drips
out of the kettle to turn other leaves yellow.
These stories are fun to read, but of course we know they are not true. So, why do
leaves turn color in the fall? In order to learn why this happens, we must first know a little bit
about leaves. Leaves contain pigments. Pigments are nature’s crayons. They give leaves and
other things their color. Many leaves have green pigments. Carrots and squash get their colors
from yellow pigments.
Leaves are nature’s food factories. The green pigment helps the leaves catch sunlight and
use it for energy. Water comes up from the ground through special tubes. It is mixed with a gas
from the air to make sugar. Sugar is food for the tree.
During winter, there is not enough water and sunlight for the tree to make food. To get
ready for winter, the tree stops making food in the fall. The special tubes close up. No water can
get to the leaves. Without water, the green pigment starts to go away. We see the yellow and
orange pigments instead. Where did these colors come from? They were hiding in the leaves all
along. We just couldn’t see them. The green pigment covered them up. The leaves don’t really
get new colors; they simply lose their green.
This explains why leaves are yellow and orange. What about the red and brown colors?
The red color comes from sugar that is trapped when the tubes close up. When leaves die, they
turn brown and fall off the tree. Now you can see that nature’s crayons help to give trees the
brightly colored coats they wear in the chilly autumn weather.