Why are some young leaves red?

Leaves look green because chlorophyll molecules absorb the red end of the visible light spectrum in photosynthesis, and the unused green light is reflected. Counterintuitively, they are green because they don’t use green light! But many leaves don’t start off green. The fresh, young leaves of many different kinds of plants, like these lovely sycamore leaves (below) are red, or … Continue reading Why are some young leaves red?