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

Acer platanoides – Norway 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  Moderate Bloom Time  Spring Color  Green, Orange Flower Color  Green Type  Tree Native  Europe, northwest Asia and north 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 platanoides – Norway Maple

Norway Maple scientific name Acer platanoides was introduced from Scandinavia in the seventeenth century, and has since enriched Britain’s scenery with its bright spring blossom and rich autumn foliage. In height it reaches some 98 feet.

The twigs are stout and shiny, generally tinged with red before turning brown. The small winter buds are set oppositely, and are bluntly pointed, with shiny reddish-tinged scales. The leaves when unfolding show rust-red tints. They are palatably five-lobed, sharply angled, bright green, rather shiny, with a long slender stalk which is tinged with red and contains milky sap. In autumn the leaves show a standard good yellow, and later brilliant orange-brown colors for a brief spell.

The greenish-yellow flowers of both sexes are found together in an erect or spreading inflorescence in the form of a corymbs panicle, and appear in early April before the leaves unfold. The fruit consists of two winged seeds – the well-known double ‘samara’ (or ‘keys’), set at an angle of about 1600. They are green at first, becoming brown before they spin away. 

The bark is thin, dark grey to brown, with short, smooth, narrow, and shallow fissures. The wood is white or grayish, fine-textured, hard and fairly heavy. It is used for furniture and turnery goods. If cut when dormant in winter and early spring the tree freely ‘bleeds’ its sugary sap.

Foresters sometimes cultivate Norway Maple for timber, but more often their chief objective is to form with its an attractive belt around other tree-crops. Unfortunately it suffers much harm, particularly in the crown, from the grey squirrel, which is attracted be its sweet sap.

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple in Autumn

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple : Flowers

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple : Seeds

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple : Leaves

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple : Leaves & Seeds

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple : Log

Acer platanoides – Norway Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple – Hedge Maple

General Information Common Name  Field Maple or Hedge Maple Scientific Name  Acer campestre Sun Tolerance  Full Sun Height  6 - 25 m (20 – 70 ft) Spread  6 – 10 m(20 – 30 ft) Growth Rate  Slow Bloom Time  Spring Color  Green, Orange Flower Color  Green Type  Tree Native  Europe, North-west Asia, North America

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. campestre

Acer campestre – Field Maple

The Field Maple is known in America Hedge Maple tree, scientific name is Acer campestre, that may attain a height of 20 to 70 feet, but is most familiar as a mere bush of the wayside or hedgerow, particularly on chalk or lime-stone formations, when displaying its colorful winged fruits, it is a very pretty tree.

The slender twigs are light brown, and after the first year may have a layer of cork that project out wards in conspicuous irregular vertical ridges. The opposite winter buds are brown, with short hairs on the scales. The leaves as they unfold are often tinged with a rosy or pinky red, and have a leaf-stalk which is usually tinged with red or brown, they are small (rarely more than 2 inches in length or breadth) and have normally five rounded lobes. They are dull green above but paler green below, and turn to a bright golden shade in autumn.

The erect, few-flowered inflorescence comprises small pale greenish-yellow flower usually of both sexes, which open in May. Their two-lobed ovary develops into a double ‘samara’ – and almost straight pair of broad-winged ‘keys’ about 0.5 – 1 inch long. With their bases joined together. In summer these ‘keys’ are often tinged with crimson, afterwards turning brown as they ripen. 

The bark is light brown, sometimes with a dull orange tinge, smooth at first but be-coming darker and furrowed with small scales which flake of. The wood is pale brown, hard, tough and strong. When sufficiently large, it is ideal for carving or for turning into bowls and platters.

Acer campestre – Field Maple : Flower and Seeds

Acer campestre – Field Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple : Flowers

Acer campestre – Field Maple : Leaves

Acer campestre – Field Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple

Acer campestre – Field Maple : Flowers