Acer rubrum – Red Maple

General Information Common Name  Norway Maple Scientific Name  Acer platanoides Sun Tolerance  Full Sun Height  20–30 m (66–98 ft) Spread  9–13 m (30–45 ft) Growth Rate  Slow Bloom Time  Spring Color  Green, Red Flower Color  Red Type  Tree Native  USA

Classification Kingdom  Plantae – Plants Subkingdom  Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision  Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division  Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants Class  Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass  Rosidae Order  Sapindales Family  Aceraceae – Maple family Genus  Acer L. – Maple Species  A. platanoides

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum commonly known as Red Maple also known as swamp Maple or Soft Maple is native to Eastern and Central North America. Red maple is one of the best named of all trees. It is generally easy to identify for its highly changeable in morphological characteristics.

Red Maple is a medium to large growing tree is growing 18 – 27 m (60 – 90 ft) in height, but exceptionally grows over 35 m (116 ft) in height. It is spread is about 12 m (40 ft) with a rounded to oval crown. The trunk diameter can range 46-76 cm (18-30 in), depending on the growing conditions. It is a slow growing tree, within 10 years it may grow about 6 m (20 ft) tall. It grows faster than Norway Maples and Sugar Maples, but slower than Silver Maple.

A. rubrum is a deciduous tree. The leaves are green in color and turned into red in autumn but can also become yellow or orange on some of leaves. They are typically 5 – 10 cm (2 – 4 in) long and same as wide, with 3 – 5 palmate lobes with a serrated margin. The sinuses are typically narrow, but the leaves can display important variation. The top side of the leaves are light green and the down side is whitish and can be either sea-blue or hairy. The leaf stalks are up to 10 cm (4 in) long and usually red in color.

The twigs are reddish in color and partially shiny with small lenticels. Midget shoots are present on many branches. The buds are normally blunt and greenish to reddish in color, usually with several loose scales. The lateral buds are slightly stalked and in addition there may be collateral buds present as well. The buds form in fall and winter and are often visible from a distance due to their reddish tint.

The flowers of Red Maple are appear in spring generally coming before the new leaves. The flowers usually unisexual, with male and female flowers blooming in individual sessile clusters, although sometimes they are also bisexual. The considered Polygamodioecious by itself that meaning some flowers individuals are male, some are female, and some flowers are monoecious. For the Climate condition, the Red Maple tree sometimes can change from male to female or male to hermaphroditic, or hermaphroditic to female. The tree usually start blooming when it grow about 8 years old but it significantly varies between tree to tree some trees star blooming when 4 years old. The flowers are red in color, with 5 small petals and 5 lobed calyx borne in hanging clusters, usually at the twig tips. They are lineal to oblong in shape with pubescent. The feminine flowers have one pistil formed from two fused carpels with a glabrous superior ovary and two long styles that protrude beyond the calyx. The staminate flowers contain 4 – 12 stamens, sometime with 8.

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

The fruit is a samara 1.5 – 2.5 cm in long that grows in pairs with somewhat divergent wings at an angle of 50 to 60 degrees.  They are borne on long slender stems and are variable in color from light brown to reddish. They ripen from April through early June, before even the leaf development is altogether complete. After they reach maturity, the seeds are dispersed for a 1 to 2 week period from April through July.

The bark of young trees is smooth, silvery-gray becoming scaly and dark with age and older branches and trunk are covered with scaly gray brown bark.

Red maple is a wonderful ornamental tree for its attractive foliage. It is cultivate as ornamental tree in the urban road side and park.

  Video about Acer rubrum - Red Maple 

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Young Plant of Red Maple

Leaves of Red Maple

Acer rubrum Leaves

Red Maple Leaves Lower Part

Acer rubrum – Red Maple Leaves in Fall

Acer rubrum Leaves in Fall

Red Maple Leaves in Fall

Twigs of Red Maple

Acer rubrum Twigs

Flowers of Red Maple

Acer rubrum Flowers

Fruits of Red Maple

Acer rubrum Fruits

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Bark of Red Maple

Acer rubrum Bark

Log of Red Maple

Red Maple as Ornamental Trees

Acer rubrum in Fall

Acer rubrum as Ornamental Tree

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum – Red Maple

Acer rubrum after fall

Acer rubrum – Red Maple