--- title: Fall Foliage: Why Leaves Change Color in Autumn description: Some good old-fashioned science unearthed from TIME's archives canonical: https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-23T11:00:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:42.200Z article:section: History og:title: This Is Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall og:description: Some good old-fashioned science unearthed from TIME's archives og:url: https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7ed66ff4786db2d/6986a4a21eebf79f25372c43/175495657.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: Autumn leaves og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall twitter:description: Some good old-fashioned science unearthed from TIME's archives twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7ed66ff4786db2d/6986a4a21eebf79f25372c43/175495657.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Sep 23, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Autumn Road Autumn Road Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Sep 23, 2014 11:00 AM UTC It’s time to bust out your sweaters and boots, friends, because today, Sept. 23, marks the official first day of autumn. Some people love this season for its football, others love it for its [lattes](http://time.com/3264103/pumpkin-spice-latte-chemistry/) — but pretty much everyone loves it for its gorgeous, vibrant colors. (If you don’t love fall for the foliage you’re a monster.) But have you ever stopped to ask, perhaps while enjoying some cider in a leafy meadow dotted with yellow, orange and red, _why_ the leaves change color every year? Back in October, 1941, [TIME explained](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,851345,00.html) the science behind this annual metamorphosis. And, naturally, the anonymous writer did so in the most science-y way possible — with a poem:  From the Oct. 20, 1941, issue of TIME In other words, as summer comes to a close, trees lose their green color as their chlorophyll breaks down. Once the chlorophyll disappears, other substances like carotene and xanthophyll — which have been present all along but masked by the green of summertime — begin to show. “Red appears in maples, sumacs and some other plants when slowdown of the trees’ physiological processes prevents carrying away of the sugars (made with the aid of the fading chlorophyll out of air, water and light) from the leaves,” the article continues. “These sugars turn into a class of glucosides called anthocyanins, which are bright red and purple pigments. Anthocyanins develop best where 1) soil is acid. 2) nitrates are scarce, 3) light is abundant. Thus the light-bathed tips of maple leaves and the sunny sides of apples are reddest.” But of course, all good things must come to an end. Here’s what happens as those lovely hues begin to fade: --- > “” --- So next time you’re strolling through the park with your friends on a crisp autumn afternoon and somebody comments on the colors, hit them with some science to explain the phenomenon. Surely they’ll be so impressed they’ll buy you a pumpkin spice latte, or at least some [pumpkin spice Oreos](http://time.com/3305161/pumpkin-spice-oreos/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/"},"headline":"Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall","datePublished":"2014-09-23T11:00:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:42.200Z","description":"Some good old-fashioned science unearthed from TIME's archives","url":"https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/","keywords":["weather","Science topic","fall","autumn"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7ed66ff4786db2d/6986a4a21eebf79f25372c43/175495657.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7ed66ff4786db2d/6986a4a21eebf79f25372c43/175495657.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Autumn leaves","caption":"Autumn leaves","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3418885/why-leaves-change-color/","name":"Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall"}}]}] ```