Mature copper beech leaves
Pigmentation in addition to chlorophyll in the leaves of copper beech (Fagus sylvatica var purpurea)
This image shows the leaves of a mature copper beech tree.
The leaves of copper beech have chlorophyll for photosynthesis, but pigments of other colours, such as the red pigment anthocyanin, mask the green colour. The plant’s ability to produce a greater than normal quantity of anthocyanin is hereditary.
Though these other pigments may have some function in the species, probably helping to protect the chlorophyll from ultraviolet light, they tend to reduce the ability of the plant to photosynthesise. For this reason, copper beech trees normally survive best in cultivation.
Image by John Bebbington FRPS
Mature copper beech leaves
Pigmentation in addition to chlorophyll in the leaves of copper beech (Fagus sylvatica var purpurea)
This image shows the leaves of a mature copper beech tree.
The leaves of copper beech have chlorophyll for photosynthesis, but pigments of other colours, such as the red pigment anthocyanin, mask the green colour. The plant’s ability to produce a greater than normal quantity of anthocyanin is hereditary.
Though these other pigments may have some function in the species, probably helping to protect the chlorophyll from ultraviolet light, they tend to reduce the ability of the plant to photosynthesise. For this reason, copper beech trees normally survive best in cultivation.
Image by John Bebbington FRPS