Acer
rubrum Linnaeus
Common
names: red maple, carolina maple, eastern red maple, scarlet maple.
Synonyms: Acer carolinianum Walter, Acer drummondii
W. Hooker & Arnott ex Nuttall, Acer rubrum Linnaeus ssp.
drummondii (W. Hooker & Arnott ex Nuttall) E. Murray, Acer
rubrum Linnaeus var. drummondii (W. Hooker & Arnott
ex Nuttall) Sargent, Acer rubrum Linnaeus var. rubrum,
Acer rubrum Linnaeus var. tomentosum Tausch, Acer
rubrum Linnaeus var. tridens Wood, Acer
rubrum Linnaeus var.
trilobum Torrey & Gray ex K. Koch, Acer stenocarpum
Britton, Rufacer carolinianum (Walter) Small, Rufacer drummondii
(W. Hooker & Arnott ex Nuttall) Small, Rufacer rubrum (Linnaeus)
Small.
Family: Sapindaceae.
Brief
description:
A small to large-sized, deciduous tree, typically 15–35 m (50–115
ft.) tall when mature. Bark is gray and smooth, becoming furrowed
and ridged with age, sometimes with plates. Young twigs are often
red. Leaves are opposite, and shallowly to deeply palmately lobed
(rarely unlobed). The leaf margins are irregularly serrate, with sinuses
that are sharply V-shaped, unlike those of southern sugar maple (Acer
barbatum) which are rounded. Also, the sides of terminal leaf
lobes are widest at the base, tapering to the tip, while those of
southern sugar maple are more or less parallel. Separate male and
female flowers may occur on the same or on different trees, or they
may be combined in bisexual flowers. Fruits consist of two, winged
samaras that split apart when mature, sometimes traveling long distances
on the breeze as they spin to the ground. One of the most widely distributed
native trees in eastern North America.
USDA
Profile
Herbarium
sheet images:
Live
specimen images:
Branchlet
with leaves Individual
leaf 1 Individual
leaf 2 Branchlet
with buds Close-up
of buds Branchlet
with flowers Close-up
of flowers Close-up
of fruits