Fall is here, and the splendor of changing leaves is all about us. Many, however, have never witnessed the amazing beauty of a blueberry barren in full color.

Blueberry barrens are wide and flat, with intermittent hummocks and low shrub vegetation, often even forming carpets. The most common plants in unmaintained barrens tend to be low bush and/or velvet-leaf blueberry, and the wide expanses of plants are sometimes punctuated by pines or spruces.

Often, in the gaps between the blueberries are the occasional herb or reindeer lichens, which sometimes can also form their own large carpets.

The colors that are produced by a blueberry barren in the fall is amazing, and almost seems beyond the realm of human vision. The colors are related to the plants' seasonal job of producing food for themselves --when they capture sunlight for photosynthesis, they use several compounds, including chlorophyll (green), carotenes (orange), and xanthophylls (yellow). During the summer, chlorophyll dominates, resulting in the fields of green many of us associate with blueberries.

But as the plants transition into fall, the chlorophyll is no longer the prime player, and the plant starts to break it down - allowing the yellows and orange to step to the front that actually were there all along. And then the reds and purples that are associated with anthocyanins (which protect the plant from too much sunlight) step forward, adding to the amazing display. These anthocyanins allow the plant to absorb just a little more nutrition before the leaves fall off and they enter dormancy for the winter. In many ways, these anthocyanins not only provide a feast for our eyes, but also for the plants, helping to ensure that they have nutrition to survive the long winter.

The phenology of a blueberry barren is particularly fascinating, especially when one considers that these are overly harsh environments -- the glacial outwash has a huge moisture gradient, with the hummocks being particularly dry, and bog like conditions exist in the depressions. The soil is particularly acidic and nutrient poor, and these barrens are usually located in areas where fire is frequent (which may actually help promote the development of the lichen carpets).

These conditions make the vibrant fall display even more amazing to witness -- but the barrens have other surprises for those willing to explore them in the spring and summer months. These (often managed) barrens provide some of the best habitat in the northeast for the upland sandpiper as well as some other ground nesting species including the short-eared owl. In the fall, whimbrels will use barrens near the coast for foraging during migration. In times past, the graceful clearwing larva fed on blueberries located in the native pitch pine barrens.

As you spend the last of these warm sunny days of fall leaf peeping, it is well worth the effort to make a trip into the plentiful barrens of Washington County and enjoy the splendor of the season -- and pick up some of the "superfoods" produced here in Maine -- wild blueberries! Those anthocyanins that contribute to that amazing display also are present in the fruit, and have a strong antioxidant effect, helping to reduce the risks of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity -- amongst other benefits! Not only do they help the plant, but also those that consume

Blueberries joined the realm of “superfoods” years ago when scientists realized that the anthocyanins that give the fruits and leaves of the plants their red and purple colors have a strong antioxidant effect.

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