Tyler Starr
26 October 2008 from 1015-1030
Location: A walk from Belknap, along the north side of campus north of Eaton and Waller, in between Olin and Collins, and back toward Belknap along the northern edge of the Quad
Weather: 59 ̊ F, mild winds (less than 5 mph), completely clear skies
General: My goal was to take a walk around the north side of campus to observe the various fall foliages. Obviously, many trees have begun to change colors. I noticed several trees that have actually already shed all of their leaves. Some, however, have not even begun to change colors. I noticed that many of the plants that are still completely green are small trees, shrubs, ferns, and other smaller types of plants. Perhaps the smaller plants can still garner enough energy from the waning sun to justify the maintenance of its photosynthesizing plants. One exception is the horse chestnuts, which have hardly even begun to change colors. I wonder if the fact that they are an introduced species affects how they respond to the weakening sun, causing them to change colors at a different time from comparable trees. I also noticed several different strategies of color change. Some trees had sections where most of the leaves were changing, while in other parts they did not. One particular shrub had randomly dispersed yellow leaves among its green ones, exhibiting no clear pattern. One tree had interesting leaves that were beginning to turn red, but were still streaked with green along the veins (see picture). My favorite trees that I saw were along Collins. I believe they were some sort of maple. They were a few of them, and they were all a brilliant yellow color.
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