On my way back from the dining hall on campus, I noticed a bush with leaves of four different colors. I was curious as to how they might look different on a cellular level.

These leaves were sampled in February. As the length of day and amount of sunlight changes, chlorophyll can break down, causing the vibrant green color to disappear. This reveals the yellow-orange colors that are characteristic to fall and winter.

I sampled four leaves from the same bush.
Leaf 1: medium-sized, dark green, healthy looking leaf.
Leaf 2: a yellow-green color and the largest of the four.
Leaf 3: medium-sized, red-colored, and felt waxy and soft.
Leaf 4: light green in color, the smallest of the four, and seemed like new growth.

Leaf 1: very well defined cell walls! Very bright green color from chlorophyll.

Leaf 2: very faint yellow color, cell walls were difficult to see perhaps due to light coloring or the leaf is beginning to die.

Leaf 3: neat how the lines along the leaf are very easy to see, bright purple-red color, I had trouble focusing this image so cell walls are hard to see.

Leaf 4: new growth leaf, I also had trouble focusing this one but the green color doesn’t seem to be as developed as the mature green leaf.

Summary: it’s neat to observe different levels of chlorophyll and cell wall structure of leaves from the same bush during winter!