Immature foliage

The naked buds begin to expand at the beginning of the growing season giving rise to the immature foliage.  This immature foliage often gives a stunning colour contrast to the background of mature juvenile, mature intermediate or mature adult foliage.  Here are examples of some of the contrasts:

                                                     immature                                mature
                 E. archeri                  -   pink or red                against   blue /grey
                 E. dalrympleana        -   yellow or pink           against   green
                 E. delegatensis          -   bright red or scarlet   against   green
                 E. glaucescens          -   silver pink                 against   silver grey
                 E. neglecta                -   red/green                  against   purple green
                 E. nicholii                 -   orange or red            against   dark green
                 E. nitens                   -   purple or pink           against   blue/green
                 E. perriniana              -   purple grey               against   green/grey
                 E. subcrenulata         -   yellow or red            against   glossy green

All species show this striking colour difference to a greater or lesser extent.
As the immature leaves mature their colour darkens to that of the mature foliage but further out along the branch new coloured immature foliage is growing.  The contrast continues until the end of the growing season but is most noticeable in the Northern Hemisphere in May to August.