Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

Re:Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video] by bradrn on Saturday February 12, 2022 @08:59AM (#30312850)

> Does anyone know why the leaves are initially so dark and then become lighter? Is that common in plants?

I’ve noticed the same thing in frangipani. I assume it has something to do with the same amount of chlorophyll being distributed over a greater area, but that’s just a guess.

Also note that the leaves don’t just get lighter as they grow: the older ones also start to become dark again as they die.

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Re:Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video] by _Microft on Saturday February 12, 2022 @09:21AM (#30313002)

Here is a guess.

Some nutritients / elements are rare and plants need to manage them carefully. That also means that they need to protect themselves against animals feeding on them. For that, they develop antifeedants [0] for example. Maybe plants develop the structure of leaves and antifeedants first before eventually loading it with chlorophyll [1] for which e.g. magnesium is required (no idea if that counts as rare but it is certainly harder to acquire than hydrogen, oxygen or carbon.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifeedant

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll#Chemical_structure

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