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In response to this article, I’d like to ask why is it that on our campus, native swamp maples growing within 30 feet of one another display totally different leaf color? While I appreciate them aesthetically, I’d also like to understand why their anthocyanin production is different.

Marcia Walsh
North Andover, Mass.

According to David Lee of Florida International University in Miami, the answer could lie in small genetic or habitat differences among the trees. He adds, “Actually, we know little about the patterns of such variation in nature. . . . Often, we take for granted such phenomena so close to us when, in fact, they are poorly studied .”–S. Milius