![]() Non-native but similarly common varieties of maples include the Norway and Japanese maples, each getting attention for their own particular ornamental or functional contributions to a location’s canopy. Perhaps the most well-known American maple is the sugar maple, although red and silver maples are equally popular choices for planting. All maples also have their distinctive pointy-lobed leaf, although the forms and color will vary from species to species. The spring flowers of maple trees are also important resources for local pollinators of all kinds. Almost all types of maple trees are great habitats for wildlife as well, providing dense foliage, high refuge, and nutritious forage for squirrels, birds, and other small to medium-sized mammals. There are 13 species of maple that are native to North America and about ten times that number across the world, at nearly 130 types of maple trees found in America, Europe, and Asia.ĭespite the unique aspects of each maple species, every maple tree has samara seeds (more commonly known as helicopters or propeller seeds), with flowers that bloom in spring and leaves that drop throughout fall. While all maple trees have certain similarities, which is why they are all grouped into the genus Acer, there are many species of maple trees that can be found in the Northern Hemisphere. This will help make your first season of sugaring successful as you’ll take the guess work out of identifying your trees in early Spring when it comes time for tapping.How Many Species of Maple Trees Are There in the United States? If you have a large property with a number of trees, you can always mark the trees you want to tap by tying a brightly colored ribbon loosely around the tree’s trunk. This is a great time of year to identify the trees you want to tap on your property for the upcoming sugaring season, since we can use the foliage as our guide. ![]() While there are many more species of maple trees along with sub-species, these are just a few of the most common trees in our area. Japanese maple’s bark is smoother and less textured than other species, as pictured below. Generally speaking, its leaves are typically deeply cut and feathery in appearance with beautiful deep red hues, though some vary to deep dark purples. There are many variations of this species so it would be impossible to classify all of them under one set of identifiers. Japanese maple, acer palmatum, is native to Japan, Korea and parts of Russia. It is very easy to spot silver maples in the woods amongst other species because of their bright, silver colored bark pictured below. Silver maple tree bark is shaggy and rough similar to the sugar maple, but is distinctly more light grey or silver in appearance. The leaf of the silver maple has five lobes, with very deep notches between each long, slender lobe. Silver maple, acer saccharinum, is one of our favorite species of maple and is also characterized by a very distinct leaf shape and bark type. The Red maple’s bark is very similar to that of the sugar maple, and can have robust ridges in the bark in mature trees as pictured below. The leaves have a distinct shape, with serrated edges and v-shaped spaces between the lobes. Next we have the Red maple, acer rubrum, another common species known for its brilliant red fall foliage. Mature trees of larger diameter have a distinct textured bark with vertical ridges or fissures that are brown to dark brown as pictured below. The sugar maple’s bark is medium to dark grey and smooth on young, small diameter trees. Its leaves usually have five lobes with smooth, u-shaped connections between each lobe and no serrated edges. It has the highest sugar content in its sap compared to the other species, and its leaf is featured on the Canadian flag. ![]() Sugar maple, acer saccharum, is the most common species out of the group and also provides the best sap for producing maple syrup. We will also identify the Japanese maple which is commonly planted here for its beauty, though it is not native to North America. Some of the most common maple species found here in North America include: Sugar maple, Red maple and the Silver maple. We’ll use a combination of clues from both the bark of the tree and its foliage to accurately identify each species of maple. Autumn is here and the frosty winter air is rolling in quickly across New England this week! Now is the perfect time of year to identify your maple trees for the upcoming spring maple sugaring season before the leaves are completely gone from the branches.
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