Just Leaf Me Alone
Sunday
Leaves turn sunlight into sugars and starches to feed the plant with the help of the chlorophyll molecule, which reflects green light and thus appears green. This is the main reason so much of the natural world appears green, though a few other colorful molecules can also perform the same sunlight conversion work.
Monday
Conveniently for we oxygen-breathers, oxygen is a waste product of photosynthesis, just as the carbon dioxide we exhale is used in leaves as part of photosynthesis…a perfect cycle.
Tuesday
Needles are a highly modified form of leaf which evolved during the Mesozoic Era to reduce water loss. Since this needle-leaf split, trees have either had needles or conventional leaves, but never both (or neither) on a single tree.
Wednesday
Like the number of sand grains on a beach, the number of leaves that fall every year seems too vast to estimate, but it nonetheless has been done. In the US, about 203.58 billion trees drop about 40 quadrillion leaves onto forest trees every year. By this math, the worlds estimated 3 trillion trees drop about 1,200,000,000,000,000,000 leaves annually.
Thursday
Leaves can get really big, but some distinctions are needed for the title. The biggest non-split and non-floating leaf is the giant taro, with leaves up to 6 feet wide. The largest split non-floating leaf is the Raphia regalis palm, with leaves (comprised of leaflets) up to 82 feet long and 10 feet wide. Meanwhile, the massive Victoria boliviana water lily, with leaves nearly 10 feet across, can support the weight of a human adult on the water’s surface.
Friday
For all the green color it produces, chlorophyll is a short-lived molecule that needs constant replacement. So when the days shorten in the autumn and chlorophyll production slows, leaves can show off their other bright colors produced by pigments like anthocyanin and carotenoids.
Saturday
Whether you plan to or not, you likely eat a lot of leaves. Among the many common edible leaves in the human diet are spinach, lettuce, cabbage, kale, bok choi, chard, basil, arugula, oregano, watercress, spearmint, parsley, mustard greens, rosemary, endive, and many others.