Tips on Observing Maples: The most challenging aspect of observing the maples is that the leaves and flowers can be high up in the tree. Bark on older trees is often broken into plates. Bisson, ME Sea Grantīark: Young red maples have smooth, light gray bark. These samaras disperse in spring before the leaves are fully developed (sugar maple samaras hang on until the fall). Red maple samaras are red, in contrast to those of sugar maple, which are green in spring. Bisson, ME Sea Grantįruit: Maple trees produce double samaras (winged seeds), but you may know them as “spinners” or “helicopters” due to their characteristic descent to the ground. It is the female flower that produces the fruit. In the female flower it is the stigma that extends past the petals, ready to catch pollen. Male flowers have long stamens that extend beyond the petal and are covered in yellow pollen at the tips. Red Maples can produce all male flowers, all female flowers, or some of both. Two red maple trees may look different from each other during the flowering period. The leaf stalk and twigs also have a reddish color.įlowers: Small, hanging clusters of bright red flowers appear in spring before the leaves. Red maple leaves are green on the top and a light greenish white on the underside, and turn brilliant red in autumn. Red maple leaves are more toothed, while the lobes on sugar maples have smoother edges. To distinguish them, look at the teeth on the leaf edges. It is easy to confuse red maple with sugar maple. Leaves: Maple trees have palmately lobed leaves, which means their leaves resemble the shape of a hand with five lobes that extend in a fingerlike fashion from a central point, similar to palm of your hand. However, it tends to bud and flower very early in the season, which has a negative effect on the sap, making the syrup season for the red maple very short. Red maple can be used for syrup production. It is wide ranging, and native throughout the eastern half of the United States. Red Maple is a deciduous tree that can be 50 to 60 feet tall at maturity. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Red Maple (Acer rubrum) Fact Sheet USDA-‐NRCS PLANTS Database/Britton, N.L., and A.
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