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Category: A plants in the order that they bloom with length of bloom- no new pics in this just a list from here on out- the double editing was driving me crazy and I'm losing track of what is where- not to ment
"Re: What is the purpose of purple plum tree leaves being purple?
Date: Tue Nov 4 17:16:14 2003
Posted By: David Hershey, Faculty, Botany, NA
Area of science: Botany
ID: 1066791429.Bt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:
Green-leaved cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera) mutated to produce large amounts of anthocyanins in their leaves. They are called Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea to distinguish them from green-leaved members of the species. Most wild Prunus cerasifera have green leaves. The anthocyanins make the leaf appear reddish-purple even though the leaf contains green chlorophyll.
Mutations are random events. Reddish-purple leaves could provide a benefit to the plant, a detriment or be neither of benefit or harm to the plant. If the reddish-purple leaves were of great benefit, then you would expect that eventually most wild Prunus cerasifera would have reddish-purple leaves due to evolution.
Purpleleaf plums are plentiful because people find them attractive and have propagated, selected and cultivated them for over a century. A Mr. Pissard introduced the first purpleleaf plum into France in 1880 from Iran. Even the famous horticulturist Luther Burbank introduced the 'Thundercloud' purpleleaf plum in 1919 which the first website cited below considers the most widely grown purpleleaf plum cultivar in the USA. Purpleleaf plum is valued mainly for its colorful leaves and attractive spring flowers, not for its fruit.
You could do an experiment to determine if purpleleaf and green-leaved Prunus cerasifera differed in fruit predation. However, your hypothesis that the leaf color may protect the fruit from predators would be detrimental to the tree. The fruit's purpose is to attract animals to eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. According to the second website, purpleleaf plum fruit are eaten by a variety of animals.
"
3rd pic, man I love this new camera- so so much better- now I have to work on compostion
Apr 24, 2007
ok, well, sent a whole buncha pics in and....uhm, embarrassingly enough, I think this is a different tree/bush than what I have it labled as: [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
I'll find out, now that i've tried to send stuff in :S
they put it in- whew, must have been this one..well good, laugh....man, what a dork
