Winged sumac, Rhus copallinum, has to be one of our most beautiful small trees. Also known as shining sumac and flameleaf sumac, winged sumac is a modest plant most of the year, often in the understory of dry woods or on the edges of forests.
In the autumn, winged sumac goes out in a blaze of glory, with some of the brightest red colors in our flora. The brilliant colors persist for quite a long time.
Click on the picture to see a gallery of sumacs.
In a warm autumn, as we are having in 2016, leaf color change is slowed down. Instead of a quick display of color, we often see slow development of color, muted colors, and mottled colors within a single leaf. We had the same conditions in 2014.
Trees use photoperiod, or day length, to determine when to begin casting off leaves. The duration and color intensity of autumn is determined by temperature, with shorter duration and more intense colors when night temperatures are low. Photoperiod does not vary from year to year, but weather does.
In a warm autumn, leaves do change color and eventually fall off, but they do so more slowly and with more subtle colors than in a cooler autumn. As the world continues to warm, autumns like this one will be more common.
Click the picture for a slide show of leaves in a warm autumn.
What is your favorite autumn tree? Mine changes on a daily basis, but my current favorite has to be sassafras, Sassafras albidum. I like trees like sassafras and sweetgum that display many colors in a single tree.
Sassafras is a great urban tree in fairly large spaces such as parks. It reproduces from root sprouts, so one tree will lead to many.
Click on the sassafras picture below for a slide show of the splendor of sassafras in autumn.
Make a comment below or visit our Facebook page to tell us about your favorite autumn tree.
