What's Happening?

	As fall in Ohio drifts into winter, trees and shrubs of the eastern deciduous forest enter into dormancy in a wondrous array of colors.      Chlorophyll, the light-trapping green pigment of the leaves is broken down, leaving various accessory pigments visible to the eye for a brief period of time.  These accessory pigments, xanthophylls(yellow) and carotenoids(reds) remain in various combinations to create the patchwork colors of the fall deciduous forest.
	Most of Ohio is within the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome, a broad vegetational belt determined by climatic and soil conditions.  In this part of Ohio, a predominate forest subtype is a Beech-Maple mix. Sugar maples, of commercial value for "tapping" of sap used to make maple syrup, produce some of the more brightly colored leaves of our fall forests. This maple leaf, in partial state of decomposition, shows the yellow and red pigments in various places along the vascular elements.
	Although most plants flower during spring and summer, a few do produce flowers in the fall. Franklinia alatamah blooms through November and you can enjoy its beautiful flower at the Holden Arboretum. Named for Benjamin Franklin, this plant was collected from the wild in Virginia by John Bartram.  A fortuitous find by Bartram saved this species from extinction.  No longer found in the wild, all cultivars of this plant descend from this original stock.

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