Red Maple - Acer rubrum

Aceraceae - Maple Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 3
Red Maple Tree
Acer rubrum

Spring

Male and female Acer rubrum flowers

This Red Maple lives at the Pisgah National Forest Ranger Station near Brevard, North Carolina.  This Red Maple is in the front yard of the Ranger Station. 

The female Acer rubrum flower

The Red Maple in the spring is said to be one of the most beautiful flowering trees in the world.

The Red Maples blooming on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Red Maples blooming

Summer

The Red Maple journal entry, drawing by Brooke Priddy Conrad

The Red Maple leaves are opposite and simple; the sinuses between the lobes are V shaped. The lobes are wide and toothed. The leaf is green and whitish underneath. The leaf stalk is red.

The tree usually grows 60-90 feet high and 2-3 feet in diameter.

Fall 

Acer rubrum, Red Maple

Acer rubrum, Red maple

Winter

This Acer rubrum lives near my house at Priddy Woods.  This tree has so many red features that the name is certainly appropriate.  I am finding each and every tree species has it own individuality.  There are features that are unique to each species in each season.  The young red maple trees in the winter will have these red twigs that emerge from the smooth gray bark.  A trait of the maple family is the way these trees grow in community.  Where there is one, there are many.  Can you tell that by this first picture.  The two trunks grew from one of the many shoots that emerge from the earth.  You will notice when you find mature maples, they commonly have multiple trunks.

Acer rubrum, Red Maple, Priddy Woods

The Champion Red Maple Trees

The national champion Red Maple is in Salem, New Jersey. The tree is 91 feet tall with a circumference of 270 inches.  https://www.americanforests.org/big-trees/red-maple-acer-rubrum-3/

My favorite Red Maple Tree

My favorite red maple lives by the Davidson River ranger station near Brevard, North Carolina.  The first time I saw this tree it was covered in flowers, which appear before the leaves.

Plant a Red Maple Tree

Red Maple trees are native here in the Southern Appalachian mountains where I live.  These trees are beautiful with the flowers and the colorful leaves in the fall.  Red maples support all types of wildlife. Birds, small mammals, butterflies, moths live in and among the red maple trees.  If you live in an area where red maples are native to the area, consider planting the beautiful red maple.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Acer rubrum