Acer rubrum
Red Maple
Red Maples bloom early in the Spring, lending the forest canopy a soft red glow. Later, red-winged samaras, which hold the tree’s seeds, spin down to the forest floor in the wind. In the Fall, the flaming foliage of orange and red to yellow is dazzling. The bark changes dramatically over time from smooth gray in the tree’s youth to scaly and ridged gray-brown on older trees, or even shaggy like the specimen on the Red Maple Trail in Spruce Glen. Red Maple leaf edges are serrate, or toothed; while Sugar Maple leaf edges are entire, or tooth-less.