Why Does Nature Paint Some Autumn Leaves Red?

Why does nature paint some autumn leaves red?

- Andy Boyles

When Missy Eppes was young, she loved to climb her family’s maple tree during the fall. “It turned the most amazing colors of orange and red and yellow,” she says. “I would sit up in that tree in the fall and feel like I was sitting inside the sun.”

Today, she is Dr. Eppes, a scientist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She and her students have worked to help solve a puzzle about autumn leaf colors.

Scientists understand why summer leaves are green and why they change to yellow or orange in the autumn. But autumn reds are different. Some leaves turn red. Others don’t. It’s a mystery.