Red Maple

Acer rubrum

Text Box: Tree Form: Medium sized tree, 15-21m high. Slender, dense crown. Lower portion of trunk often lacking branches.

 

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Text Box: Leaf: Opposite arrangement, simple, usually 3 lobes but sometimes 5, palmate venation. Sinuses are broad, relatively shallow, and form an acute angle at base. Usually glabrous on both sides. Green above, whitish underside, often with reddish petioles. Turns bright red, yellow, or orange in autumn.

 

 Text Box: Flower: Appear before leaves in spring. Male flowers orange, female flowers red.

 

 
Text Box: Fruit: Paired samaras grouped in pedicels. Wings are small (2-3 cm in length) and diverge only slightly. Reddish to brown in color. Fall off tree early in summer.

 

 Text Box: Twig: Red and glossy, visible lenticels. Pith is pink. Terminal bud is relatively small, scaled and changes from green to red in autumn.

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Text Box: Bark: Light gray and smooth in young trees. In older trees bark is darker gray with chunky, narrow, platelike scales.

 

 Text Box: Other: A native tree, found naturally in low, mesic soils. Shade-tolerant and quite fast growing. Has spread upland vigorously and increased in numbers due to human suppression of forest fires. Often used in landscaping. Classified as a soft maple.

 

 

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