Who says trees aren't colorful in the spring?
I found this little swamp maple seedling (at least I think that's what it is, though I'm really just guessing and will welcome any correction) when I spotted the bright orangy-red amongst the otherwise vernal greenery and dead-leaf tans of the wooded hillside. Closer investigation revealed this festive little fellow—as dressed up as any maple in autumn.
While my botany is pretty shaky, I'd guess the coloration is simply due to a temporary lack of chlorophyll in the just-unfurled leaves. Leaves always sport those bright colors we ooh and ahh over in the fall—it's just that the color remains hidden during the spring and summer months, masked by the overpowering green of the chlorophyll.
If you sort of look at the leaves overall arrangement, I think it looks like a scarlet-orange bat spreading its wings. (Okay, you might need to sort of squint, and put your imagination in free-spool.) At the very least, the little seedling seems to saying, "Where's my green!"
6 comments:
HI GRIZZ-
beautiful picture that captures the mystery of nature. I love how you "see" and "know" and even "guess" with creative wisdom that makes perfect sense.
Have a wonderful weekend. I continue to mend - taking extra care and applied strategies to reverse the weakness. One step at a time. We are going to pick up my Mom from dialysis and then friends are coming over. We are each making food and supplying our own "grog". We are making salad and my famous hot layered bean/cheese dip. They are bringing stuffed breads and dessert.mmmmmmmm
Add a nice bottle of wine, some music, good conversation, laughs and expressed friendship and it's all the ingredients for a real good evening. Hallelujah.
Love to you
Gail
peace..... dip.mmmmmmmm
our two maples here come out red in the spring.
Gail…
Sorry to be so slow in responding…fellow-father-in-law Rich, and I have been out and about all day, taking photos, redoing bird feeders, having both lunch and dinner, and finally figuring out why the refrigerator wasn't working. I'm beat and sore and my back is aching, and in about five minutes I'm about to take some pills and hit the hay.
Sounds to me like you had a great family time planned. I hope everything went well and the food was as good as I imagined.
We had a lovely day here, but supposed to rain tomorrow through Tuesday—this this was the only sun for awhile. Take care of yourself. Enjoy…
Ellen…
I think this is a maple…but it just liked its looks and color. I'm not too good at identifying some of the small shrubs and trees in bud or early-leaf, but I really enjoy photographing them.
Like your bat-leaf. (BTW, I very much enjoyed your two illuminating responses to Bonnie yesterday, especially the bat-cave one.)
Solitary...
Thank you. I really like the shapes and often surprising colors of the new leaves. Can't identify a lot, but I enjoy photographing them.
My answers to Bonnie are a prime example of jumping right in without knowing anything other than my own opinion, and in the case of the first reply, not even understanding the question.
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