WDB-03

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Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Common Name: Red Maple
Scientific Name: Acer rubrum
Other Names:

Leaf: Simple, opposite; 3-5 lobes (3 dominant lobes); margins coarsely toothed; 10-15cm long and wide; red stalk; green leaves, turn red in autumn.
Flower: Males small, red; females with tiny red petals; appear well before the leaves, in clusters encircling twigs; males and females on separate trees, or on different branches of same tree.
Fruit: Samaras (maple keys), twin winged red seeds in V- formation; Ripen, fall, and germinate in early summer; begin bearing seeds at age 4-10.
Twig: Slender, wine red, smooth, shiny with tiny white lenticels; dark red buds in pairs; smooth, roundish; terminal bud flanked by 2 side buds.
Bark: On younger trees, smooth, ash-gray; on older trees, gray brown, rough, with scaly vertical ridges loose at both ends.
Wood: Moderately heavy and strong; close-grained; not decay-resistant; heartwoond gray to pale reddish brown; annual growth rings not very distinct.

Facts About This Tree:
1. Red maple grows 20-30m tall (tallest recorded is 43m) and 40-90cm wide in trunk diameter, and lives 100-150 years.
2. Its foliage turns every shade of red imaginable – sometimes so brilliant it affects the eyes like dayglow.
3. They often hybridize with silver maple which results in intermediate forms.
4. Red maple has been traditionally underutilized compared to its big brother, sugar maple. Red maple wood is not as heavy, hard, or strong as sugar maple, but it is often substituted for sugar maple where these qualities are not critical.
5. Moose, deer, rabbits, and hares eat the twigs, porcupines and beavers gnaw on the bark, and chipmunks and gray squirrels consume the seeds.

Lat, Long: 43.7858872, -79.5900519
Diameter (DBH): 12.7 cm
Last Year Modified: 2015
Carbon Stored in this Tree: 24.59 kg of C
Equivalent CO2: 90.16 kg of C

Find more trees in Woodbridge.

Reference
1. Blouin, Glen. 2001. An Eclectic Guide to Trees East of the Rockies. Erin, ON. Boston Mills Press
2. Farrar, J. L. 2007. Trees in Canada. ON. Canadian Forest Service.
3. Photo Credit: Kathryn Chin; University of Guelph; ‘20120306_1742Pendrell_AcerRubrum_Cutler_DSC06678′ By Wendy Cutler via Flickr – https://flic.kr/p/bodQHf; ‘Red Maple – Acer rubrum’ by Fyn Kynd via Flickr – https://flic.kr/p/i5NBrd; ‘Red Maple samaras’ by Dendroica cerulea via Flickr – https://flic.kr/p/ncZwYx; Yie Wu Wu