Norway maples have wide coat-hanger helicopters (top), while sugar maples have horseshoe-shaped ones (bottom). On sugar maples, the helicopter is more of a horseshoe: The samaras (the technical term for the maple’s “helicopters”) have a wide angle on Norway maples (I’ve heard them referred to as “coat-hanger” shaped). In early fall, you can also look for the seeds to tell these two apart. When you pluck a Norway maple leaf where it connects to the tree branch, you’ll see a milky white liquid. On Norway maples, a white, milky fluid will flow out of the spot where the leaf joined up with the tree: One way to tell apart these trees is to pluck a leaf. You’ll need other tricks to separate them. Norway maple (top) and sugar maple (bottom) have similar leaves. Their leaves in particular can look almost identical: Norway and sugar maples can look similar to the untrained eye. When they’re small, red maples tend to have smooth, grayish bark that can sometimes look like American beech:Īs the tree ages, that bark tends to split into vertical plates: Red maples have that, but Norway and sugar maples have smooth-edged leaves.īark is another good indicator for red maple. You can also look at the edges of the leaf for a jagged sawtooth pattern. A red maple leaf often looks like it only has three lobes, while the Norway and sugar maples tend to look like they have five. When we look at Norway and sugar maple leaves coming up, you’ll notice that they have bigger, more distinct bottom lobes than red maple leaves do. Whatever color the leaves are, a good clue to red maple is the rounded base of the leaf. In the fall, look for red again, this time on the leaves: Against a clear blue sky, that red is hard to miss: Red maple is one of the first trees to flower, so in early spring, look for swelling red buds and red flowers. When you want to identify this species, think red. This blog post from MyWoodlot team member Karl VonBerg walks you through how to identify a maple based on its bark and branching. In this post we’ll cover three common maples you might find in your yard or woods and explain tricks you can use to differentiate these seemingly-similar trees.īefore you set out to identify different kinds of maples, make sure you know you’re looking at a maple to begin with. Only certain ones are well-suited for tapping. If Tom’s posts have inspired you to tap some maples yourself, one of the first things you’ll need to know is how to identify different kinds of maple trees. MyWoodlot team member Tom Pavlesich has posted about his experience tapping the maple trees in his backyard and then using the sap to make maple syrup.
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