Facts on Red Maple Trees
The red maple tree, with the scientific name of Acer rubrum, is a tree with a range throughout most of the eastern half of the United States. It has the ability to grow in all sorts of soil types but prefers a moist area such as long creeks and wetlands, which helped give it the nickname of the "swamp maple." The red maple is a useful ornamental tree for landscaping and produces sap that industrious individuals convert into maple sugar.
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Size
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The red maple specimen that grows in an open area will often achieve heights close to 70 feet. The crown might reach 40 feet across and the trunk will average between one and two feet in its diameter. Red maples grow quickly and are a short-lived species compared to other trees. They rarely live much longer than 150 years and will mature in 70 to 80 years.
Geography
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While the red maple tree exists in most of the eastern part of the country, it is especially plentiful in the New England States and the states in the middle Atlantic region. It flourishes in upper portions of Michigan and in northeast Wisconsin. Other species that typically grow near red maples include birches, sugar maples, hemlocks, ash and pin cherry.
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Leaves
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On the twigs of a red maple, the leaves are what botanists classify as opposite, meaning there is a pair of leaves at each separate node on the twig. The stems normally are red and the leaves have a triangular shape with from three to five lobes. These leaves are anywhere from two to six inches wide. The tops are green but the bottom of the leaves have a silverfish shade to them. Although most turn a brilliant red in the autumn, they may also change to such hues as orange, yellow and chartreuse.
Features
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In the winter, the twigs of a red maple are reddish. The buds and flowers in the spring month also are red and that combined with the reddish stems of the leaves and their tendency to turn red in the fall gives the tree its name. The bark of wild red maples varies in color, with some having gray bark and others possessing shades of brown, black and even silver. The bark can be shaggy or have ridges and fissures in it.
Uses
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The lumber industry calls red maple "soft maple" and sometimes the close-grained wood replaces harder types of maples in some furniture. Landscapers and homeowners value the tree for its beauty; they often plant it with this in mind on properties. People tap these trees for their sap to make maple syrup but the season for this is shorter than for other maples such as the sugar maple. Deer will gladly browse on the twigs in the winter when food is scarce.
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References
- Photo Credit John Lindell
