Acer Rubrum
Native to eastern North America the red maple is a medium sized tree with a height of 70’ and spread of 40’ at maturity. Rubrum means “red is everywhere in evidence” a fitting phrase for this tree as the red maple bears red flowers before leaf out, red fruit, red twigs, red buds, and finally red foliage in the fall. Red maples have a distinctive leaf identified by the 3-pointed lobes. The bark is grey with scaly rectangular ridges. Red maples are diecious, meaning that they are either male or female. The male trees display red flowers in late winter-early spring, while the females will produce red samara’s (fruit) shortly after.
