A widespread, fast-growing North American maple whose flowers, twigs, leafstalks, and autumn leaves are all flushed with crimson.
Where it grows
Red maple has one of the widest ranges of any tree in eastern North America, from Newfoundland and Manitoba south to Florida and east Texas. It tolerates wet swamps, dry uplands, and almost everything between, and is rapidly replacing more fire-sensitive species across eastern forests.
How to recognise it
The leaves are smaller than sugar maple’s, with three to five sharply pointed lobes and toothed margins. In spring the tree blazes with tiny red flowers before the leaves emerge, the leafstalks are red, and in autumn the foliage colours among the earliest and reddest of any tree.
Uses
Red maple wood is softer and less valuable than sugar maple but supplies large amounts of pulp, pallet stock, and inexpensive furniture. The tree is widely planted as a street and shade tree thanks to fast growth and dazzling fall colour, with cultivars such as October Glory and Red Sunset.
Ecology
The expansion of red maple at the expense of oaks worries foresters because acorns supply far more wildlife food, and red maple casts denser shade that suppresses oak regeneration.
Find more trees by letter
Red Maple starts with R and ends with E. Browse other trees along the same letter.
Trees that contain a letter from "Red Maple":