Abstract
THE leaves of our forest trees at the period of the autumnal fall are not similar as respects the condition of vitality which they then have reached; that is to say, while some still retain their green colour and drop off, as it were, mechanically, the majority exhibit a change of coloration and are apparently dead or more or less decayed. The relation between these stages of vitality or decay and that of the particular colour (red, yellow, or brown) which the autumn leaves assume may be so far demonstrated by a critical scrutiny of certain constituents of the mineral matters (ash), especially the silica and lime, which they enclose at the very moment when this special and characteristic colour is displayed. In order to present to view this order of thought, the following tables of ash analyses are drawn up, the percentages being calculated on the red, yellow, or brown leaves with their petioles dried at 100° C., and on the ash minus charcoal:—
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KEEGAN, P. Leaf Decay and Autumn Tints. Nature 69, 30 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/069030a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069030a0
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