Pigment Palette (revised)
University Outreach Publication
The tree pigments responsible for fall coloration.
Autumn tree colors grace our landscapes. The palette of potential colors is as diverse as the natural world. The climate-induced senescence process that trees use to pass into their Winter rest period can present many colors to the eye. The colored pigments produced by trees can be generally divided into the green drapes of tree life, bright oil paints, subtle water colors, and sullen earth tones.
Overpowering greens of summer foliage come from chlorophyll pigments. Green colors can hide and dilute other colors. As chlorophyll contents decline in fall, other pigments are revealed or produced in tree leaves. As different pigments are fading, being produced, or changing inside leaves, a host of dynamic color changes result. Taken altogether, the various coloring agents can yield an almost infinite combination of leaf colors. The primary colorants of fall tree leaves are carotenoid and flavonoid pigments mixed over a variable brown background.
[WSFNR08-34]
K.D. Coder
September 2008
Warnell School of Forest and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
Athens, GA (US)
16
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WSFNR08-34
Biology (tree), Aesthetics, Abiotic Factors
Southeast
Foliage color, Chemistry, Fall color
Other
