Opposite, 3 to 5 palmate lobes with serrate margins, sinuses relatively shallow (but variable), 2 to 4 inches long; light green above, whitened andsometimes glaucous or hairy beneath.
Flower
Appear March to May, usually before leaves; usually bright red but occasionally yellow.
Fruit
Clusters of 1/2 to 3/4 inch long fruit with slighly divergent wings, appear May to June, on long slender stems. Light brown and often reddish.
Twig
Reddish and lustrous with small lenticels, buds usually blunt, green or reddish (fall and winter) with several scales usually present, leaf scarsV-shaped, 3 bundle scars, lateral buds slightly stalked, may be collateral budspresent.
Bark
On young trees, smooth and light gray, with age becomes darker and breaksup into long scaly plates.
Form
Medium-sized tree. In forest, trunk usually clear for some distance, in the open the trunk is shorter and the crown rounded.
Rhode Island Red Maple Leaves
Rhode Island Red Maple Buds
Copyright 2019 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson;Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information
