Remember what great fun it was to jump in that big old pile of leaves that Dad had raked into the hugest pile in the world? Remember the smell of the burning leaves throughout the neighborhood on those warm Autumn days? Remember coming in after a great Saturday outside and Mom had a warm bowl of tomato soup and a gooey toasted cheese sandwich that warmed you inside and out? Let’s face it, Fall only happens once a year. The warm afternoons, the cool, crisp evenings, the crawling out of a warm bed to go to (yuck) school.

Well let’s see if you remembered ANYTHING from that grade school science section on leaves. Some straight answers, some multiple guess. Have fun.

1) What is the green color in leaves?

2) Leaves are broad and flat. Why?
a) So the wind will not blow them off
b) To disperse heat during heat spells and drought
c) To capture the maximum sunlight
d) To lessen the weight stress on a branch

3) Photosynthesis is a word we all have heard. What does photosynthesis do?
a) reflect sunlight back to the sky to keep the tree cool
b) takes sunlight water and carbon in the leaf and makes food for the tree
c) draws water in through the root system
d) breathes in carbon dioxide though the leaves

4) When water is hard to get what does the leaf do?
a) roll up
b) fall off
c) turn color
d) nothing

5) The underside of the leaf has organs known as what?

6) What does the underside of the leaf do for the tree?

7) In the fall, leaves turn colors. What are the group of colors that give leaves the red – orange – yellow colors?
a) tannins
b) anthocyanines
c) colchecines
d) carotenoids

8) How many leaves does an average deciduous tree have?
a) 1,000,000
b) 50,000
c) 200,000
d) 500,000

9) How many humans per year can one tree produce oxygen for?
a) 10
b) 2
c) 25
d) 5

10) How much would 25,000 dry oak leaves weigh?
a) 50 pounds
b) 200 pounds
c) 170 pounds
d) 70 pounds

BTW – don’t light those leaves on fire anymore! That smoky leaf smell really chokes some of us up. Anyway, dead composted leaves are great fertilizer.

ANSWERS!

1) Chlorophyll

2) c) to capture the sunlight

3) b) using sun (from greek for sun) carbon and water the tree makes sugar for its fuel

4) a) roll up

5) stomata

6) breathes in carbon dioxide (for photosynthesis) and transpires water.

7) d) carotenoids

8) c) 200,000 (reference if you want)

9) b) 2

10) d) 70 pounds