Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed – U.S. Height: 40 to 100 feet Width: 15 to 75 feet Medium to fast growth rate Various forms - oval, rounded, upright, columnar Red or magenta flowers appear before leaves emerge.The quick-growing, hardy red maple is popular in landscaping and for timber production.Although it grows largest in and near swamps, it abounds in New England forests and is becoming more common as sugar maple begins to succumb to climatic change. Squirrels and other rodents feed on the fruits, while rabbits and deer eat the tender shoots and leaves. Red maple takes its common name from its reddish buds that swell in spring, its red leaf petioles in summer, and its brilliant red foliage in fall.

Wildlife use red maples for food, shade and nesting habitat. Red maple has an oval shape and is a fast grower with strong wood, reaching a height of 75 feet.Red maples usually live between 60 to 90 years, but have been known to survive 200 years. Trees can produce viable seeds at age four, and usually produce good seeds every other year.Īfter a fire or mechanical disturbance, stumps can sprout new growth. Its leaves are 2.5 to 4 inches in length, with three to five pointed lobes that have serrated edges. Its bark is smooth and grey but becomes scaly and dark grey as the tree gets older. Winged fruits mature between April and June and are dispersed by air. The red maple is a medium to large deciduous tree named for its distinctive red fall leaves, fruits, flowers and twigs. Reproduction and Life CycleĪn early spring bloomer, flowers form in March and April. V-shaped, double-winged fruit about 1 / 2 -1 inch long. Slender, shiny, usually reddish in color terminal buds 1 / 8 1 / 4 inch long, blunt, red odorless if bark bruised or scraped. Genetics As might be expected from its wide range, red maple shows great variation in height, cold hardiness, straightness, time of flushing, onset of dormancy, and other traits. Red maples reach an average height of 60 to 90 feet. Young trees up to 4-8 inches with a smooth light gray bark, developing into gray or black ridges and ultimately narrow scaly plates. Red maple, sugar maple, and paper birch trees cut any time after leaf fall provide browse as nutritious as, and more acceptable than, trees cut immediately before leaf fall (3). Its fruits are winged seeds that appear in clusters of pairs. Its flowers are pinkish-red and grow in drooping clusters. In spring and summer, the leaves are a medium-green, later turning red-orange in the fall. Its bark is smooth and grey but becomes scaly and dark grey as the tree gets older. The red maple ( Acer rubrum) is a tree native to North America and is a member of the Sapindaceae (soapberry) family. The red maple is a medium to large deciduous tree named for its distinctive red fall leaves, fruits, flowers and twigs.

Red maple leaf shape