𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒎𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓?

Have you noticed on your walks that some of the trees still have hold of their autumn leaves?

Beech and oak trees are particularly good at the process of marcescence, when the autumn leaves stay on the tree. You will see it particularly on young trees or new branches where the abscission layer isn't fully formed and the tree or branch hasn't reached sexual maturity, which means it is not yet flowering and fruiting. This abscission layer is a layer of cells at the base of the leaf, flower or fruit that separates it from the plant by stopping the transport of nutrients and water, therefore falling from the tree. During the process of marcescence, the dead leaves will hold onto the tree until the spring leaves start to bud and push them off.

Although there is no hard evidence to why trees do this, immaturity plays a role and it may be to protect the young, vulnerable leaf buds from damage, not only by sheltering them from the elements, but also from browsing animals, because once the leave turn brown, they also turn bitter.

𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔!