Summer’s here and while I associate this with the sun, the sand, and the sea, I was amazed when I chanced on this during one of my walks.
Who knew some of our trees change colors and shed their leaves as they embrace summer?
The above is a mahogany tree, Swietenia mahogani (L.) Jacq., and I saw it just when its leaves are a beautiful mix of green, yellow, and orange. Pardon the photo quality as this was a zoomed-in shot using just my phone, which has limited zooming capabilities.
Mahogany is native to the West Indies and valued for its wood. For further reading, click HERE.
Here’s a photo of another tree experiencing “fall.”
We call it a Talisay tree in the country, though it is more popularly known as Indian Almond or Tropical Almond, Terminalia catappa. It’s also called an Umbrella Tree, and perhaps it’s because of its large leaves, and the fact that its branches are distinctly arranged in tiers.
A trivia: I found out HERE that before falling, the leaves of a Talisay tree turn pinkish-reddish to yellow-brown due to pigments such as violaxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin.
Here’s another tree that I found to be changing colors.
I don’t know its name though, so if anyone can identify this, that would be nice.
All photos taken in Cebu using an iPhone 6.
during the summer break of my 5th-grade self, the leaves of our backyard trees were all turning warm in color (like in the photos), and as the wind blew they would fall off and causing them to rain on me while I was sitting on a cut-down tree. I still remember the moments vividly and looking back at them I thought “wait, did I just experience autumn?” which made me smile. Now I know why my fav season is autumn:)