October 13, 2024: Anthocyanin

It sounds scary, but anthocyanin is what produces the red and crimson foliage that makes New Hampshire famous this time of year.  

Red Maples are the red champions of the autumn nature show.

Yellow and orange colors in leaves are present year-round but are only revealed in the fall when the leaves stop producing the chlorophyll that conceals their underlying colors. 

Photosynthesis ceases at the leaf tips first and works back towards the stem.

Trees with red leaves, however, actually create the pigment anthocyanin as they shut down photosynthesis in the fall.  They don't do it for our viewing pleasure or to extend the tourist season, but rather because the chemical helps protect plants against cold temperatures.

Black gum are less prevalent than maples but have even deeper red color in their leaves.

They use some of the sugars created over the summer to form this compound.  Anthocyanin is produced by a wide variety of plants with red, blue, and purple coloring including blueberries, tomatoes, red cabbage, beets, grapes, corn, even sweet potato.  It's one of several chemicals in the flavonoid family which are known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits to humans.

Indian Cucumber has only a splash of anthocyanin.  The berries aren't edible, but the tubers are.

The color of these plants varies because anthocyanin changes color with pH level:  it is red in acidic conditions, purple in neutral, and yellow in alkaline conditions.  The chemical is thus useful in measuring pH levels - remember pH strips in high school chemistry?  Wikipedia provides lots of information on anthocyanin if you're interesed in learning more.

Jack-in-the-pulpit berries must be quite acidic.

Sumac is another red star this time of year.

Blueberry bushes are known to love acidic soil, and their leaves also turn dark red in the fall.

These were at 2400' elevation on the ledges up to Black Mountiain.

Black Mountain State Forest is in Haverhill and Benton, NH, and though the foliage there seemed past peak that far north on Friday, it was still pretty.

Thank you TB for the recommendation - it was a great hike!  

Around the Lakes Region, the maples are still at peak color.  I'll end with a few sights from around Lake Wicwas.

It's not too lake to take it all in!

October 14, 2018: Calling all Colors

The last summer breaths of New Hampshire's flowers and trees are being heard this week as they drain energy from their solar collectors and transfer it to their roots and seeds to power next year's life.

A colorful, calm fall day on Lake Wicwas

A pair of red maples against a backdrop of green

As photosynthesis ceases, hidden colors are revealed in both leaves and berries.  These Indian Cucumber-root berries are some of the largest I've seen.

Indian Cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana)

It must have been a good growing season for them as plants put a lot of energy into growing seeds.

On the opposite end of the gray scale from the Indian cucumber-root berry is the fruit of the White Baneberry plant.

White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda)

This stunning and unusual white berry ripens in late summer or early fall, and though it is native to the area, this is the first time I recall seeing it.  Though pretty, it is highly poisonous, with both digestive and heart risks including cardiac arrest.

Nature is giving us interesting, colorful berries this time of year, but still, the leaves take the gold for the sights of the season.

Mist clearing in the morning

It's worth appreciating every bit of color right now, as it won't be long before November-drab dominates the landscape.

Floating leaves dot the surface of Lake Wicwas as it reflects a deep blue autumn sky

Enjoy it now:  Mount Washington reported their first snow of the season!

September 6, 2015

Last week I commented on the large mats of Bladderwort in the lake.  It's not just Lake Wicwas, but many lakes are experiencing this phenomenon this summer.  Marge Thrope sent me an article on the subject written by Amy Smagula, NHDES Exotic Species Program Coordinator, in the Volunteer Lake Assessment Program newsletter (click here to read it).  Amy says aquatic plants have boom and bust years just like terrestrial plants, and 2015 is the bladderwort's time for glory. 

The autumn harvest and gathering has commenced in the Lakes Region;  an audible indicator is the annual pine cone drop which is now taking place in the pine groves around Lake Wicwas.  It's not the trees themselves dropping their cones, but rather these little rascals cutting them off the branches so they fall to the ground where they gather them up to store away for a cold winter day.

The originator of the term "squirreling away"

You hear it far off on a quiet morning, the cones bouncing off all the dead branches on its way from tree-top to forest floor.

The White Pine - Nature's pinball machine

It sounds like an old-time pinball machine where each branch rings up another 1000 points on the scoreboard.

This will be the source of those piles of pine cone shells that will appear on the snow this winter.

Midden Pile under a favorite lunch branch

(Sorry to use the "W" word - and to show snow.)

On August 16th this year I noted some of the berries around the area, including the Hobblebush viburnmum with its bright red fruit.  Now, three weeks later, those berries are turning black.

I find it interesting there aren't any berries that are part black and part red - it seems each berry changes color almost at once - maybe overnight?


I also showed evidence of bears eating berries of some sort, and this week I found signs of fox doing the same.

The berries in this scat look suspiciously like those viburnum berries, but that's just a guess.  You may have also noticed that this fox left its calling card right next to an antlion dwelling - that little cone in the sand where the antlion excavated its trap to catch unsuspecting ants - just like Sarlaac, the giant antlion in the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi".)

One more fruit bearing plant that is ripening at this time:  the Indian Cucumber.  The root of this plant is edible, but the berry is not.

At least not to humans -  I don't about animals.  If squirrels eat them, you can be sure this guy will be watching to make sure you don't steal its food if you lean down to take a look at it.

October 5, 2014

The beavers have been very active lately - they have even been trying to stop the water flowing over the dam by piling up branches and packing reeds and mud on the dam.  Even though the town water control person has been removing the debris several times a week, they were able to raise the water level a couple of inches above the dam setting.  It appears they are building a second structure just a short way downstream from the dam.  I understand the town has hired a trapper to try to reduce the beaver population on the lake.

One morning I watched a beaver searching the shoreline for saplings to cut down and take away for winter food.  At one point it stopped to take a break and give itself a bath. 

Beaver on the Prowl

It climbed up on rock just below the waterline and spent several minutes scrubbing its fur all over, head to toe.  I took a couple of videos, but the resolution after uploading to the blog is so low you can't see what it is doing very well.

After its morning ablutions it swam around the shore again, reconnoitering for future logging trips.

Back on August 31 I posted pictures of hundreds of tiny double-decker spider webs;  this week I saw a spider in one of them and was able to identify it:  a Bowl and Doily Weaver Spider.

Bowl and Doily Weaver Spider

This spider is less than a quarter of an inch long.  In its two-layer web, the top web is the bowl, while the lower web is the doily. 

The spider hangs out on the doily waiting for a customer to come along and land in the upper web which is not sticky.  The spider then walks on threads strung above the doily and reaches up from below to grab the unsuspecting guest, and, lunch-time!  The two webs also provide protection from predators (and photographers).

The team of people working to continue to protect Lake Wicwas have been very busy this fall as well, including working with very generous land owners and the state to conserve three more tracks of land.  The Lake Wicwas Assocation, working with the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, applied for a grant from the state Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) fund to ensure there will be no cost to the landowners in the process.  On Monday the ARM committee toured on-land and from the water to assess the properties. 

Aquatic Resource Management Committee Assessing the Properties Planned for Conservation

I am optimistic they will see the value of these important wetland properties. 

One of the Properties to be Conserved

The leaves around Lake Wicwas are approaching their peak color;  they will probably reach it by Columbus day, so it will be a great week to do some leaf-peeping. 

Red Maple

Although not nearly as obvious, even the White Pine trees drop leaves this time of year.

Photo Credit:  Nick Molloy

And the forest-floor plants are producing fall bounty too.

Fruit on an Indian Cucumber-root

The rain and wind on Saturday brought down some of the early-turning leaves, which are now painting the trails and the lake with red and orange.

Beware:  If you have any pretty maples along your shore line, you may want to protect them from this guy!

September 29, 2013

The leaves are just starting to turn around Lake Wicwas, but the weather has been so beautiful we had to take an early drive.  We ventured up to the Hemenway State Forest in Tamworth - an area we had never been to before.  It is a good size forest with very little human activity - we saw no one else while we were there.  We trekked up the short trail to the fire tower on Great Hill via the Betty Trail and found nice views of the White Mountains, Chocorua, Conway and Tamworth.

Mt. Chocorua from Great Hill in Hemenway State Park

Looking South from Great Hill

Yesterday we took a hike in our own backyard, and I think the leaves are farther along here than in Tamworth.  We went up to the White Mountain Ledge in the Hamlin/Eames/Smyth area, and had good views towards the Franconia Range, and Chocorua again!

Mt. Chocorua from the White Mountain Ledge

Mt. Lafayette and Mt. Lincoln

Along the way I found some ripe berries on an Indian Cucumber-root

and a new plant I haven't seen before, or perhaps more accurately, hadn't noticed before:

It is a Rattlesnake Plantain, and it isn't rare, perhaps just not very conspicuous.  It is an evergreen, and a member of the orchid family.  It has a distinctive appearance with many white veins throughout its leaves.

Looking in the other direction, this is all that's left of last week's Full Harvest Moon.

There has been a lot of talk this past week about the "under-cast" - lots of reports from the Mt. Washington Observatory showing clouds in the valley with the summit in the clear.  This same condition was present right at Lake Wicwas this morning, with fog over the lake, but the hill just a few hundred feet higher in the clear.

Under-Cast at Lake Wicwas

It was even more pronounced over Lake Winnisquam.

The radio tower and the tops of the trees on the hill along Parade Road were just poking up through the clouds as the sun was coming up.

I was at Crockett's Ledge before sunrise, and was able to witness the spectacle of the sun rising over and through the morning fog.

Sunrise from Crockett's Ledge

Fall in New Hampshire - this is why people come from around the world to visit see our special part of the planet.  Even without fall color, it's hard to beat.