Click
for full size (172K) picture. The original frame, Note the tree over
the white concrete to lower right.
The theory has been advanced by various government agents (rather forcefully) that the foliage seen in the tree in the lower right of the wide angle view of the compound isn't foliage but ivy. According to this theory, this "proves" that the photo was taken in November. This is flawed logic. Even if the foliage was ivy, that would not prove that the photo was taken in November. As anyone can see, there are no autumn colors present anywhere in the scene.
Ivy, even though it grows up walls and trees, requires it's own root system in the soil. For that reason, all ivy growth starts at the soil and grows upwards. Ivy never grows in the branches of trees unless it is already present on the trunk.
In order to analyse whether the foliage in the tree could be ivy, it is necessary to start by examining the photo itself.
Click
for full size (172K) picture. The original frame, Note the tree over
the white concrete to lower right.
This image has been converted to black and white, as the 8 bit deep color space induced noise in the image. The image was then contrast stretched and a sharpeening kernel run over it.
Note the area inside the oval. These are the branches below the greenery, and they are bare. This can be seen in the raw image above, the enhancement serves only as an illustration, and as always, I encourage people to go out and find their own examples.
Click
for full size (126K) picture. A deciduous (non evergreen) tree with
ivy growing up the trunk. Note that the ivy is thickest towards the bottom
of the tree. This is the typical ivy growth pattern. Note that the ivy
stops where the tree branches out. When ivy begins to interfere
with the photosynthetic portion of the tree, the tree will die.
Click
for full size (160K) picture. Another deciduous tree with ivy growing
up the trunks.
Click
for full size (147K) picture. Two more ivy covered deciduous trees.
Notice agian how the ivy covers the trunk of the tree but stop short of
the upper branches.
Click
for full size (163K) picture. Three more ivy covered trees. Again the
ivy stops short of the foliage bearing branches.
Click
for full size (169K) picture. Two extreme cases of ivy on deciduous
trees The tree at left has died, but since the ivy feeds from the soil,
it still survives. The tree to the right is heavily covered with ivy, and
yet as the extreme right of the image shows, the ivy stops short of the
foliage bearing branches.
Click
for full size (154K) picture. Trunks of two evergreens. Again the ivy
starts at the soil level and works it's way up the trunks.
Therefore since the photograph of the tree shows grennery high in the branches above limbs and trunks devoid of any green growth, the greenery in those branches is not ivy. The tree is showing it's own native foliage, which is consistent with the initial claim that the photograph was taken in early spring, specifically the first week in April.
