This section is from the book "Tree Planting Streets And Highways", by William F. Fox. Also available from Amazon: Tree planting on streets and highways.
Pure Yellow. Tulip Tree, Yellow and Canoe Birches, White Maple, Yellow Locust, Honey Locust, Yellow Wood. Norway and Sycamore Maples, Beech, Wallow, Cucumber, Ailanthus.
Yellow Ochre. Larch, Poplar, Aspen.
Lemon Yellow. Hickories, Black Walnut.
Dull Yellow. White Elm, Chestnut, White Birch, Basswood, Butternut, Catalpa, Cottonwood. Bur Oak.
Vandyke Brown. Sycamore or Buttonwood.
Orange. Black Birch, Horse Chestnut, Ginkgo.
Red. Scarlet Oak, Sumach, Dogwood, Hornbeam.
Scarlet, Crimson and Yellow, Red Maple.
Red, Yellow and Green. Hard Maple, Sassafras.
Scarlet, Crimson and Purple. Sour Gum.
Purplish Red. Red Oak.
Red and Russet. Black Oak, White Oak.
Red, Yellow and Brown. Sweet Gum.
Brown, Purple and Salmon. White Ash.
Raw Umber. Scrub Oak.
The collector of specimens will find it difficult to secure perfect leaves of a straight color, ones in which the entire surface has turned to a uniform shade. There is apt to be some small area of green, spots of uneven color, or defacement of the surface. A careful search will occasionally reveal an unbroken leal of pure unstained yellow; but the reds almost invariably retain some of the original green, or are uneven in co1or.
In noting the colors assumed by various species the observer should make a close distinction between ripe and dead leaves. There is both a ripening and decaying process in leaves as well as fruit. The ripening stage proceeds until a separating tissue or film forms between the petiole and the twig, and then, the supply of nourishment having been cut off, the leaf dies and falls. The yellow ones soon fade- or turn brown after they drop; the red ones retain their color longer, and when properly pressed undergo little change in this respect. A ripe leaf while on the tree is still soft and flexible, whatever its color may be; a dead one is faded and sear, generally crisp and of a dull brown.
Bright colored specimens can be preserved by placing them immediately between sheets of blotting paper on which heavy weights, books, for instance, should be placed. Mr. Justus W. Folsom in an article on "Autumnal Changes in Leaves" (Garden and Forest, Vol. VIII, p. 383), says that they are best preserved by covering them with a sheet of paper, pressing with a hot iron upon which paraffine has been rubbed, and flattening and drying between papers afterward. Leaves thus prepared will retain flexibility and color for years; but if pressed without paraffine they will soon become dull and brittle.
The colors mentioned in connection with the different species are the ones which the trees may be expected to show in autumn. But on some there will be various exceptional tints, especially the Maples, among which may be found individuals bearing parti-colored leaves, some of them figured, striped or mottled like the wing of a gay butterfly. The White Ash leaf in ripening passes successively from a yellow to a dark bronze, violet, and chocolate brown, while here and there a leaf will display a lilac hue during this transition.
Still, the most of our trees show only some shade of yellow, and if we had to look to them alone the autumn would lose much of its brilliant beauty. Fortunately, the reds and scarlets which add so much to the glory of our woods and landscapes in September and October, are furnished in profusion by the larger shrubs that, in the openings along the country lanes and by the water courses, display their masses of flaming color. While yellow is the predominating autumn color of the trees, red prevails in the foliage of our shrubs and bushes.
A careful observer wall note that much of the autumnal brilliancy seen in fields and on wooded slopes is due to humble species of our minor flora that are seldom mentioned in connection with this subject. Early in August the Hobble Hush displays its purple harbinger of fall, while along the roads and waste places the Sumachs show a profusion of leaves that look as if they had been "dipped in blood." By September the Poke Weed decks the rocky hillsides with the flaming mass of color afforded by fruit and foliage and stem. A score of minor species, shrubs and briers, together with the underlying mass of humbler weeds and purple grasses, add their varied hues, until the landscape exhibits all the warm colors of a Persian rug.
It is well to remember that some of our poisonous shrubs also assume bright, fascinating colors. idle Poison Ivy, clinging to some tree, attracts the eye with the brilliant hue of its leaflets, crimson, scarlet or purple, while, more dangerous still, the pinnate leaves of the Poison Sumach entrap the fingers of the unwary with all the brightest colors seen in autumn. Hence the collector of bright specimen leaves should become familiar with the appearance and dangerous character of these shrubs.
There are some seasons in which the autumnal coloring of the foliage seems especially brilliant, although it is doubtful if there is as great a difference in this respect as might be inferred from the oft-heard remarks on this particular point. Opinions as to the comparative vividness of the tints in any year may vary according to the conditions under which chance observations are made. It a person journeys through a region in which, owing to the prevalence «»l certain species, only the yellow shades are seen, the absence of the red ami scarlet tints may readily induce the Opinion that the woods are not .it their best this season; and, on the other hand, if the observations are made in places where the Oaks, Maples, ami Gums light Lip the woods with their blazing colors, the natural conclusion is that the trees 1ook unusually fine that fall.
The sportsman whose fall hunting is done in the vast brule of the Ottawa valley will see little aside from yellow Oil the trees, with no reds except on an occasional Maple or clump of Sumachs; while the tourist, looking from his car window at the Berkshire slopes or Short Mills of New Jersey would note with pleasure the scarlet foliage which the Oaks and various other species display annually throughout those places. Careful observations made each year of the mountain slopes in the Adiiondacks and Alleghanies show no marked difference in the annual tinting of the forests. There may be some fall ill which the maturing leaves seem to show a brighter color; but if the observation is made at the same place and on the same-recurring date it would require a Critical eye and good memory to distinguish the alleged variation.
 
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