Red maple - bark and twig
twig is red with small pores and opposite red buds
Red maple - male flowers
cluster of male flowers open before leaves emerge
Red maple - female flowers
cluster of female flowers emerge before leaves
Red maple - fruit
red paired samaras on long drooping stems
Red maple - leaves
leaves come out after flowering
Red maple - opposite leaves
red maple leaves have 3 to 5 lobes and coarsely toothed edges
Red maple - fall color
red maple leaves turn scarlet, orange, or yellow in the fall

Plant Characteristics:

  • Tree: medium size, oval shaped tree up to 90 ft; in the forest the trunk is usually clear for some distance, in the open the trunk is shorter and the crown rounded
  • Bark: smooth and light gray when young, turning darker and breaking up into long vertical ridges with plate like scales
  • Twigs: red toned and lustrous with small pores; V shaped leaf scars
  • Buds: terminal buds are red, large, round, with white hairs on the edge of the scales and side buds are stalked
  • Leaves: opposite; simple; 3 to 5 lobes with shallow sinuses (but vary), 2-6 in long, and coarsely toothed along the edges; red leafstalk, green above, white or hairy underleaf
  • Fall Foliage: red, orange, or yellow
  • Flowers: this tree has separate male and female flowers, usually on different trees but not always. Male flowers are sessile seem orange from a distance, but actually red to green petals and sepals with yellow pollen. Female flowers are deep red starting sessile with a stalk that extends. Both male and female flowers bloom before the leaves emerge.
  • Fruit type: a cluster red samaras, ½ – ¾ in, with divergent wings on long stems in light brown to reddish tones

Additional Details:

  • Named for its red parts – twigs, flowers and leaves in fall.
  • Wood is used for furniture, woodenware, boxes, wood pulp and distillation products.
  • Sugar and syrup are sometimes made from the sap.
  • Provides browse for white tail deer, and is used as food by rabbits, hares and beavers. Birds and mice eat the seeds.
  • The fruit and buds are a primary food source for gray squirrels in late winter and early spring.
  • Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) specifically favors Red Maple.
  • Pioneers made ink by adding sulphate of iron to the tannin from the bark.
  • Red maple tolerates the widest variety of soil conditions of any North American forest species; however, it is not tolerant of fire.

A member of the Maple Family, also known as Swamp Maple, Scarlet Maple, White Water or Soft Maple.

References:
Brown, R. and M. Brown. 1972. Woody Plants of Maryland. Port City Press, Baltimore, MD.
Foster, S. and J. Duke. 1990. A field guide to medicinal plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Grimm, W. C. and J. Kartesz. 2002. The Illustrated Book of Trees. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, PA.
Harris, J. and M. Woolf Harris. 1994. Plant Identification Terminology: An illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, UT.
Peterson, L. 1977. A field guide to edible wild plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Virginia Department of Forestry. 2022. Common Native Trees of Virginia – Tree Identification Guide.
The Wildflower Center Staff. 2023. Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The University of Texas at Austin.