Why Plants Change Colors

 

Plants change colors due to the amount and location of different pigments in plant cells. The most common color in plants is green, caused by a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis, a process where plants convert sunlight into energy.

During spring and summer, when sunlight is abundant, plants produce a lot of chlorophyll, making the leaves appear green. However, as the season changes to autumn, temperatures drop, and days get shorter, trees receive less direct sunlight. This causes the chlorophyll in the leaves to break down. The decrease in chlorophyll reveals yellow and orange pigments that were already present in the leaves but were masked by the dominant green color during the warmer months.

Darker red leaves are the result of a chemical change. Sugars that get trapped in the leaves produce new pigments called anthocyanins. These pigments were not part of the leaf during the growing season. Some trees, like oaks and dogwoods, are likely to produce red leaves.

List of Plants That Change Colors and Their Seasons

1. Ornamental Cabbages and Kales: These plants change colors dramatically in winter.
2. Camellia: This plant produces lovely flowers in the fall and winter.
3. Winter Jasmine: This plant blooms in the winter.
4. Dogwood: This shrub has stunning, colored stems, like red and yellow, in the winter.
5. Hydrangea: This plant blooms throughout the summer. The color will be pink if you have acidic soil and blue if your soil is more alkaline.
6. Iris: This plant produces two or three blooms in spring, summer, and fall.
7. Clematis: This plant blooms in early summer and again in early fall.
8. Viburnum: This shrub produces pink berries in late summer. These change to deep blue in the fall as the foliage becomes deep red.

Edible Plants That Change Colors and Their Medicinal Uses

1. Ramps (Wild Leeks): You can eat the greens or the bulbs.
2. Spring Beauties: This spring flower grows tubers that you can eat like a potato.
3. Toothwort: Both the roots and leaves are edible.
4. Great Solomon’s Seal: You can eat the new shoots just like asparagus.
5. Ostrich Fern: Boil or steam the fiddleheads of the ostrich fern for a shade garden-grown veggie.
6. Hog Peanut: The Hog Peanut produces edible seeds and roots.
7. Wild Ginger: This plant has edible roots.
8. Creeping Raspberry: This plant produces a small edible fruit in the fall.

Many of these edible plants also have medicinal properties. For example, Wild Ginger is known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-obesity, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, gastroprotective, antidiarrheal, anti-microbial, antispasmodic, analgesic, and astringent properties.

Non-Edible Plants That Change Colors and Their Medicinal Uses

1. Rhododendron: This plant has dark green leaves that can be easily mistaken for the sweet bay leaf, which is an edible plant.
2. Mountain Laurel: This plant is as poisonous as its counterpart, Rhododendron.
3. Castle Spire Holly: This plant has deep green leaves and bright red berries.
4. Variegated Winter Daphne: This plant has yellow-edged leaves.
5. Bird’s Nest Spruce: This plant resembles a flattened sphere.
6. October Magic Ruby Camellia: This plant flowers heavily in fall opening small, Christmas-red, fully double blossoms.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, and many other plants change colors across different seasons. Always ensure to correctly identify a plant before consuming it, as some non-edible plants can be harmful or even fatal if ingested.