Sunday 21 September 2014: Autumn Colour

The news about clickychick's Mum was good she had improved overnight. When visiting time arrived she was sitting up in bed smiling.

This Rhus typhina (Stag's Horn Sumac) caught my eye as I wandered round the hospital grounds, with its bright autumn colours. Sumacs are native to Canada and northern USA but are widely grown in this country. I think it may be called Stag's Horn Sumac because the hairy bark is reminiscent of a Stag's antlers while in velvet, both in colour and texture.

The way the colour is in the has started in the lower leaves and left the leaves nearer the end of the branches intrigued me.