Acer rubrum

Plant Characteristics

Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	100 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 100.
Width:	⇔	35 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 35.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Bloom:	❀	early spring, mid spring, late spring

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	moist, moderate
Features:	✓	deciduous, flowers, foliage
USDA Zones:		3 to 9.5

Scientific Names

Aceraceae >

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Acer rubrum (Red Maple, also known as Swamp or Soft Maple), is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity it often attains a height of around 15 m (50 ft). It is aptly named as its flowers, petioles, twigs and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn.

Over most of its range, red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor dry soils, and most anywhere in between. Elevation is also not a limiting factor in its range, as it grows well from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft). Due to its attractive fall foliage and pleasing form, it is often used as a shade tree for landscapes. It is used commercially on a small scale for maple syrup production as well as for its medium to high quality lumber. It is also the State Tree of Rhode Island.

Though A. rubrum is usually easy to identify, it is highly changeable in morphological characteristics. It is a medium to large sized tree, reaching heights of 18 to 27 meters (60 to 90 feet) and exceptionally over 35 meters (115 ft).The leaves are usually 9 to 11 cm (3½ in. to 4⅜ in.) long on a full grown tree. The trunk diameter can range from 46 to 76 cm (18 to 30 inches), depending on the growing conditions. Its spread is about 12 m (40 ft). A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 6 m (20 ft) tall. In forests, the bark will remain free of branches until some distance up the tree. Individuals grown in the open are shorter and thicker with a more rounded crown. Generally speaking, however, the crown is irregularly ovoid with ascending whip-like curved shoots. The bark is a pale grey and smooth when the individual is young. As the tree grows the bark becomes darker and cracks into slightly raised long plates. The largest known living red maple is located near Armada, Michigan, at a height of 38.1 m (125 ft) and a bole circumference, at breast height, of 4.95 m (16.25 ft).

The leaves of the red maple offer the easiest way to distinguish it from its relatives. As with nearly all maple trees, they are deciduous and arranged oppositely on the twig. They are typically 5–10 cm (2-4 inches) long and wide with 3-5 palmate lobes with a serrated margin. The sinuses are typically narrow, but the leaves can exhibit considerable variation. When 5 lobes are present, the three at the terminal end are larger than the other two near the base. In contrast, the leaves of the related silver maple, A. saccharinum, are much more deeply lobed, more sharply toothed and characteristically have 5 lobes. The upper side of A. rubrum's leaf is light green and the underside is whitish and can be either glaucous or hairy. The leaf stalks are usually red and are up to 10 cm (4 inches) long. Furthermore, the leaves turn a brilliant red in autumn.

The twigs of the red maple are reddish in color and somewhat shiny with small lenticels. Dwarf shoots are present on many branches. The buds are usually blunt and greenish to reddish in color, generally with several loose scales. The lateral buds are slightly stalked, and in addition there may be collateral buds present as well. The buds form in fall and winter and are often visible from a distance due to their reddish tint. The leaf scars on the twig are V-shaped and contain 3 bundle scars.

The flowers are generally unisexual, with male and female flowers appearing in separate sessile clusters, though they are sometimes also bisexual. They appear in spring from April to May, usually coming before the leaves. The tree itself is considered Polygamodioecious, meaning some individuals are male, some female, and some monoecious. The flowers are red with 5 small petals and a 5-lobed calyx borne in hanging clusters, usually at the twig tips. They are lineal to oblong in shape and are pubescent. The pistillate flowers have one pistil formed from two fused carpels with a glabrous superior ovary and two long styles that protrude beyond the perianth. The staminate flowers contain between 4 and 12 stamens, often with 8.

The fruit is a 15 to 25 millimeter (.5 to .75 inch) long double samara with somewhat divergent wings at an angle of 50 to 60 degrees. They are borne on long slender stems and are variable in color from light brown to reddish. They ripen from April through early June, before even the leaf development is altogether complete. After they reach maturity, the seeds are dispersed for a 1 to 2 week period from April through July.

Read about Acer rubrum in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Acer rubrum, Linn. Red, Scarlet or Swamp Maple. Large tree, 120 ft.: lvs. 3-5-lobed, 3-4 in. long, green above, pale or glaucous beneath; lobes unequally and crenately serrate: fls. red or scarlet, rarely yellowish; petals 5: fr. glabrous. E. N. Amer. —Very valuable tree for street and park planting; attractive at every season from its excellent habit, earliness of the scarlet fls., bright red frs. in late spring, and the beautiful foliage, which turns bright scarlet or orange in autumn. Var. columnare, Rehd. Of upright, columnar habit. Var. globosum, Rehd. Dwarf, compact: lvs. glaucous beneath: fls. bright scarlet. Var. Drummondii, Sarg. (A. Drummondii, Hook. & Arn.) Lvs. large, mostly 3-lobed, tomentose beneath: fr. bright scarlet. Southern states. S.S. 2:95. Var. tomentosum, Kirchn. (A. tomentosum, Desf. A. rubrum var. fulgens, Hort.). Of moderate growth: lvs. 5-lobed, pubescent beneath: fls. bright red. Var. tridens, Wood (A. microphyllum, Pax, A. semiorbiculatum, Pax). Lvs. 3-lobed, rather small, rounded or rarely cuneate at the base, usually pubescent below. On young plants and vigorous shoots, the lvs. are like those of the type. Var. magnificum, Schwerin. Fall-coloring of the lvs. scarlet with green veins. —The form distributed as var. Schlesingeri, Schwerin, does not differ from the type. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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