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Article: A youthful blush; The science of spring.(Why young leaves turn red)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 12, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Yah! Boo! Sucks! You can't see me
Young leaves, as well as old ones, are often coloured red
THEY may not have the same visual impact as their elderly cousins, but young leaves are often flushed red, too, particularly in the tropics. In a study just published in Oikos, Nathaniel Dominy of the University of Chicago and his colleagues pooled existing information on the leaves of hundreds of tree and shrub species from Central America, Africa and South-East Asia. They discovered that in as many as 62% of them, young leaves tend to be coloured anything from pale pink to deep red.
Why autumn leaves are red is controversial (see previous story). But ...