AUTUMN COLORS 



225 



different times of the year. There are spring, summer, and 

 fall societies. The knoll which is cool with grass and 

 strawberries in June may be aglow with goldenrod in 

 September. If the bank is examined in May, look for the 

 young plants which are to cover it in July and October; if 

 in September, find the dead stalks of the flora of May. 

 What succeeds the skunk cabbage, hepaticas, trilliurns, 

 phlox, violets, buttercups of spring? What precedes the 

 wild sunflowers, ragweed, asters, and goldenrod of fall? 



367. In lands which gradually rise from wet to dry, 

 the societies may take the form of belts or zones. Start- 

 ing at a shore, walk back into the high land ; note the 

 changes in the flora. Three zones are shown in Fig. 380. 



368. To a large extent the color of the landscape is 

 determined by the character of the plant societies. Ever- 

 green societies remain green, but the shade of green varies 

 from season to sea- 

 son ; it is bright 



and soft in spring, 

 becomes dull in 

 midsummer and 

 fall, and usually 

 assumes a dull yel- 

 low-green in win- 

 ter. Deciduous 

 societies vary re- 

 markably in color 

 from the dull 

 browns and grays 

 of winter to the 

 brown -greens and olive - greens of spring, the staid- 

 greens of summer, and the brilliant colors of autumn. 

 The autumn colors are due to intermingled shades 

 of green, yellow and red. The coloration varies with 

 the kind of plant, the special location, and the season, 



379. Overgrowth and undergrowth in three series, 

 trees, bushes, grass. 



