Red Leaves

Mountains Covered by Rubber Plants with Red Leaves

Ironwood

If one has a bird view at the rain forests in the sky, he may find that the boundless rain forests are dotted with patches of redness which glows under the sun; these red patches are not flowers, instead, they are red leaves of some plants. In seasonal tropical rain forests, at the time when the old leaves shatter and new leaves sprout out, the red leaves are quite catching to the eyes. 

The Poem Festival of the Yi People  on February the 8th

A great variety of plants in the rain forests have red leaves at the time of sprouting, and they will turn into green and become firm days or weeks after. The trees in the temperate zone are different, so to speak, the famous maple trees and smoke trees; their leaves turn into red only when they are going to shatter in late Autumn. Looking from the physiological angel, these phenomena all belong to the declaring of the anthocyanin in the leaves; however, in the case of the former ones, they are the declaring of anthocyanin before the formation of chlorophyll; while in the case of the latter two, they are the declaring of anthocyanin after the decomposing of chlorophyll. Therefore, the former case symbolizes rebirth, and the latter ones indicate aging. 

There are many explanations for the red leave phenomenon in the rain forest; but most people advocate the view that this is the phenomenon for plants to prevent strong ultra rays from harming their young leaves.