The shape and characteristics of maple leaves

The maple leaf is palmately 5-lobed, with a length of 13cm and a width slightly larger than the length. The three largest lobes have several prominent teeth, the base is heart-shaped, the upper part is medium green to dark green, and the lower part is hairy, which turns from yellow to orange or red in autumn. The bark is grayish brown and smooth, and furrows and scales appear with the growth of tree age.

The trunk of the maple tree grows straight and graceful; Bark is generally grayish brown in color, but with the growth of tree age, some grooves will grow; The maple leaves are palm-shaped and slightly split, and the color of the leaves will change from green at first to red or yellow in autumn.

Extended data:

The reason why maple leaves turn red:

All leaves contain green chlorophyll. Trees use chlorophyll to capture light energy and store it in the form of chemicals such as sugar with the help of other substances in leaves. In addition to chlorophyll, many leaves also contain other pigments such as carotene, yellow pigment and red pigment.

Although these pigments can't carry out photosynthesis like chlorophyll, some of them can transfer the captured light energy to chlorophyll. In spring and summer, the content of chlorophyll in leaves is much richer than other pigments, so the leaves show the green color of chlorophyll, while the colors of other pigments are invisible.

When autumn comes, the days get shorter and the nights get longer, which makes the trees begin to shed their leaves. Trees don't produce a lot of chlorophyll as in spring and summer before falling leaves, and the existing pigments, such as chlorophyll, will gradually decompose. In this way, with the gradual reduction of chlorophyll content, the colors of other pigments will gradually appear on the leaves, so the leaves will show yellow, red and other colors.

Baidu encyclopedia-maple leaf