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Post by rowanberry on Oct 19, 2019 20:28:58 GMT
It's that time of year again... so I'll start it off with these red and yellow leaves, seen in the Castle Gardens in Colchester, (although I'm not certain what sort of tree this is?)
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Post by aeshna5 on Oct 20, 2019 4:10:07 GMT
The tree is the North American Sweetgum, Liquidamber styraciflua. It often goes a wonderful red at this time of the year, though the intensity of the colour does seem to vary between individuals. Certainly in London it's now not uncommonly planted as a street tree as well as popular in parks & larger gardens + I've seen trees side by side where one is a rich red + the adjacent tree more wishy-washy in colour.
In some areas Goldfinches have learnt to feed on the spiky fruits- the only creature I've seen feeding on them. I've never seen the leaves eaten, so our caterpillars, etc seem to avoid them.
It's interesting how quite a lot of the temperate American trees have this red autumn colour (from anthocyanins), such as Pin + Scarlet Oaks (though ironically Red Oaks seem to go yellow over here) as well as some of the maples.
Yesterday from the bus we noticed the purple foliage of the Claret Ash "Raywood". This is now a very popular street/park tree. It's a cultivar, interestingly developed in Australia, of the Mediterranean Narrow-leaved Ash. Certainly comes into its own at this time of year.
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