# Maple? Red? Something else?



## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

Tree in the yard with branches getting ever closer to the house roof, but right next to the highway. (By right next, I mean 2-3 feed from the pavement edge). So I won't be able to drop it, have to have a tree company do it. 

Anyway, best ID i can come up with from the leaf is possibly red maple, or swamp maple, but none of the maple leaf illustrations quite match.

Anyone say for sure?


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Looks like Sugar Maple.


















.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Best fit for leaf shape is Red Maple (_Acer rubrum_), aka Swamp Maple.
The leaf in my text could have been drawn from your pic.
Thank goodness all the maples have such distinctly different leaves.
The points of the leaf are much more drawn out/elongated in _A. saccharum_.

Farrar: Trees In Canada


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I found a Sugar Maple leaf on the web, and it looks pretty darn close to the OP's pic. I can't tell tell them apart.
































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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

It's like people = individual differences. The usual method is to identify all sorts of flowering plants by their flowers, aka plant taxonomy.
Sorry, Cabinetman but I can't buy those leaves as sugar maple. Somebody goofed.
On sugar maple, the lowermost left and right points _should_ be much more extended, just as you see on the flag of Canada.


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

100% red maple. Red maple has 3 dominant lobes where sugar has 5. The leaf shown is without a doubt from a red maple.


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

cabinetman said:


> I found a Sugar Maple leaf on the web, and it looks pretty darn close to the OP's pic. I can't tell tell them apart.


Why do those two pictures look so different? They are the same exact picture, only one has had the color tampered with.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

I would say either red or sugar, depending upon the age of the tree and how new that leaf is. I agree a sugar should have more pronounced bottom lobes, but I have seen both on a known sugar maple. 

Does it really make a lot of difference or is this just curiosity?


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Give me the flowers. Give me a Wild M5 stereo dissecting microscope and 5 minutes.
I will tell you what that particular tree is.
Leaves alone, wood anatomy at 200X, not adequate.
No, those things are not enough. Period.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

frankp said:


> I would say either red or sugar, depending upon the age of the tree and how new that leaf is. I agree a sugar should have more pronounced bottom lobes, but I have seen both on a known sugar maple.
> 
> Does it really make a lot of difference or is this just curiosity?


Don't know how old, it's about 25-30 feet tall. The leaf was plucked from the tree, put in the scanner, and posted. Curiosity - if I have to have it cut, well, you know wood workers.... :laughing:


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## landman (Sep 1, 2013)

This is what a sugar Maple kleaf looks like. The one you have is Red. red Maple is quite a bit softer than sugar.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

landman said:


> This is what a sugar Maple kleaf looks like. The one you have is Red. red Maple is quite a bit softer than sugar.


Yep, have plenty of those around. Was pretty sure the tree in question was a maple, the question was what kind. :smile:


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