Why are maple leaves red in spring?

Maple leaves are green in spring and summer, but in autumn, due to the decrease of chlorophyll and the increase of carotenoids, maple leaves turn orange or red.

Trees don't produce a lot of chlorophyll as in spring and summer before falling leaves, and the existing pigments, such as chlorophyll, will gradually decompose. In this way, with the gradual reduction of chlorophyll content, the colors of other pigments will gradually appear on the leaves, so the leaves will show yellow, red and other colors.

Common maple varieties:

chinquapin

Small deciduous tree, 8 meters high, umbrella-shaped or spherical cap, slender branches, purple or grayish purple. The fruit is spherical, Zhang Kaicheng right angle to obtuse angle, purplish red when young, and brownish yellow when mature. Flowering in May, bearing fruit in September. Mainly distributed in East China and Central China.

Second, Acer truncatum Bunge

Deciduous trees, up to 10 m. The crown of the tree is umbrella-shaped or obovate. Leaves palmately 5-lobed, lobes entire, lobes acute. Mainly produced in north and southeast China, but also distributed in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu and An Wei.

Third, triangle maple

Deciduous tree, up to 20 meters high, with thin strips of bark peeling off and oval crown. Leaf apex 3-lobed or indehiscent, entire or slightly sparsely serrate. The two sides of the fruit are convex, and the two fruit wings are nearly parallel. It is produced in all parts of the Yangtze River valley and cultivated in North China, South China and Southwest China.

Fourth, Acer ginnala

Deciduous shrubs or small trees have prominent fruits on both sides, with wings twice as long as fruiting bodies, standing at acute angles and overlapping inner edges. Northeast China, North China, Kucha strip subspecies, produced in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin.

Refer to the above? Baidu encyclopedia-maple leaf

Refer to the above? Baidu encyclopedia-maple tree