RED MAPLE
Acer rubrum L.
Growth Form: Medium tree up to 70 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown oval or rounded.
Bark: Gray and smooth when young, becoming darker and scaly.
Twigs: Slender, mostly smooth, more or less reddish, usually with pale lenticels; leaf scars opposite, U-shaped, with 3-7 bundle traces.
Buds: Rounded, reddish, usually hairy, up to ¼ inch long.
Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades up to 6 inches long, nearly as broad, palmately 3- to 5-lobed, the edges of the leaves sharply toothed to nearly toothless, pale green and smooth on the upper surface, white or gray and either smooth or hairy on the lower surface; leafstalks smooth or finely hairy, up to 4 inches long.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but sometimes on the same tree, in dense clusters, bright red or yellow, opening in February and March before the leaves begin to unfold.
Fruit: Borne in pairs, composed of an erect wing with a seed at the base, red or yellow, up to 1 inch long.
Wood: Heavy, close-grained, light brown.
Uses: Furniture, gun-stocks.