There are also plants with red or differently colored leaves. How come? Don’t they use chlorophyll to do photosynthesis? Or am I mistaken in thinking that there are trees that have red leaves? And I don’t mean in the fall season by this. I am thinking of the red beech, some maples, cherry plum, lambertus nut,… (didn’t find an answer to this in my courses yet)
Answer
Dear Sarah,
Plants with red leaves such as the red beech do contain chlorophyll. They also contain a lot of red pigments (anthocyanins) which cover the green color. These plants do photosynthesis.
In autumn, green leaves change color because the chlorophylls are broken down (their haem group contains elements that are recovered). The colored pigments such as carotenoids then remain and they cause the beautiful autumn colours. These pigments are not recovered as they do not contain any interesting elements.
Best regards,
Jan
Answered by
Prof. dr. dr. Jan Geuns
Functional Biology
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
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