{"id":20256,"date":"2022-10-26T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20256"},"modified":"2025-07-29T10:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T14:40:18","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-red-maple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-red-maple\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Red Maple"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.\"drawing<\/a><\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the red maple or\u00a0Acer rubrum.<\/em><\/p>\n

Red maple has simple three to five-lobed leaves with relatively shallow, v-shaped divisions between the lobes. The oppositely held leaves may resemble sugar maple but the V shaped shallow divisions stand in contrast to sugar maple\u2019s deep u-shaped sinuses.\u00a0In the early spring, it is one of the earliest native trees to flower, producing clusters of reddish flowers as well as reddish colored pairs of winged seeds\/fruit. In the fall, foliage typically turns a bright red to maroon color.<\/p>\n

The bark is gray and smooth in young trees and may become flaky in older trees.<\/p>\n

Red maple, which is a popular ornamental and street tree selection, is one of Indiana\u2019s soft maples alongside silver maple. It also can be found in Indiana woodlands in both moist and dry sites and in bottomlands and uplands.<\/p>\n

Red maple, grow 50 to 80 feet tall and are found growing throughout the eastern United States including the coastal regions.<\/p>\n

The Morton Arboretum<\/a>\u00a0warns that red maple was display chlorosis symptoms of pale green leaves with dark green veins in high pH soil and drought conditions. The species also does not tolerate heavy pollution.<\/p>\n