00:30Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins
00:37Autumn is a time to look closely at leaves.
00:40In spring and summer, the leaves on most trees are green, but in autumn, those green leaves
00:46turn different colors and fall to the ground.
00:49Some leaves just dry up and turn a dull brown, while others turn colors that are brilliant
00:55and bold—orange, yellow, red, purple, and gold—painting the landscape and changing
01:01the world.
01:04The leaves of most trees are flat and thin.
01:08Most are connected to the tree by a stem.
01:12All leaves have veins.
01:14The veins of some leaves are quite easy to see.
01:20Some leaves are shiny.
01:21Some are dull.
01:26Some have shapes that are simple.
01:29Some have shapes that are not.
01:32Sometimes, lots of leaflets make up a leaf.
01:41Some are big.
01:43Some are small.
01:45Some are narrow.
01:47Some are wide.
01:53Some leaves are not the same on the right and left sides.
01:58Others have edges that are jagged or edges that are smooth.
02:04Leaves are different on each different tree.
02:07Look at them carefully and see what you see.
02:15Smoke Tree
02:16The smoke tree's leaves are shaped like paddles.
02:19The stalks of its flowers are so thin and fine that from a distance they look like smoke.
02:30Birch
02:31The bark of the gray birch is white and smooth, and shines like silver when it catches the
02:37light.
02:38Birch leaves have jagged edges.
02:44Ginkgo
02:45Ginkgo trees grew in prehistoric times.
02:49Dinosaurs once ate their fan-shaped leaves.
02:56Linden
02:57The leaves of the linden tree are rather large and shape like hearts.
03:05Sassafras
03:07Several different shapes of leaves can grow on the branches of one sassafras tree.
03:13Some even look like mittens.
03:18Sweet Gum
03:20The leaves of the sweet gum tree are almost always shaped like stars.
03:28Hickory
03:30There are compound leaves on the hickory tree.
03:33Five leaflets or more make up the leaf.
03:40Red Oak
03:41Red oak trees have pointed leaves.
03:44Oak trees come in many different forms, but they all make acorns in the fall.
03:53Fernleaf Beach
03:55The fernleaf beach has smooth gray bark.
03:58Its leaves, when they're dry, look like question marks.
04:06Cherry
04:07Cherries are the fruit of the cherry tree.
04:10Some are sour, some are sweet.
04:12Cherry tree leaves are shinier on one side than they are on the other.
04:21Dogwood
04:22The dogwood tree has beautiful flowers in the early spring.
04:26The pretty dogwood leaves are like ovals with points.
04:33Yellow Poplar
04:35The yellow poplar is also called the tulip tree.
04:38The leaves look a little like a tulip flower.
04:45Maple
04:46Maple trees often have the brightest and most colorful leaves of all the trees in the fall.
04:55Green leaves make a kind of sugar to help trees grow.
04:59It's made from water and light and a part of the air called carbon dioxide.
05:04There is a proper word for this, photosynthesis.
05:08There are special scientific words for the chemicals that give leaves their color.
05:13It's chlorophyll that makes them green.
05:15The yellow is from xanthophyll.
05:18The orange is keratin.
05:20The reds and purples are anthocyanin, and brown is a result of something called tannin.
05:27When photosynthesis stops in fall, the green part of leaves dries up and dies.
05:32Then we start to see the amazing colors, the yellows and golds, that were there all
05:37the time.
05:39And sometimes a bit of sugar gets left in the leaf when it dies.
05:43That turns the leaf purple or red for a while.
05:46Sooner or later, all those colors fade to brown.
05:50Eventually, the base of the stem, where the leaf is attached to the tree, grows brittle.
05:56Then when the wind blows even a little, the leaf breaks off and flutters through the air
06:00to the ground.
06:01Before you know it, all the leaves are down and the trees are bare.
