Help Me Identify These Maples.....(PICS!)

[BurnIt13]

So I'm learning that there are hard maples, soft maples, white maples, sugar maples, etc. I've got at least 3 varieties on my 2/3 acre property. I'd appreciate your help in figuring out what species I've got and whether it is hard or soft maple. Here goes...

MAPLE 1
This maple starts its year out with a very dark maroon colored leaf. It lightens as the year goes on.
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MAPLE 2
I have a good number of these maples. I believe these to be the most common in MA as well as I see them everywhere.
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MAPLE 3
Tree is not in the best of health. Starting to shed branches.
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MAPLE 4
I believe this to be the same species as maple 3, just younger. What do you think?
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[TreePointer]

Norway
Sugar
Red
Red

(The bark is a little unusual on that sugar maple. Maybe some hybridization?)

 

[TreePointer]

Found a video for you. It's not comprehensive, but it has very good visual information.

(broken link removed)

 

[smokinj]

#1 crisom king

 

[heus]

Yes #1 is King Crimson. A variety of Norway maple.

 

[BurnIt13]

Wow thanks for the replies everyone! For my entire life (30 years) I had thought that the red maples were the sugar maples. Good to know! I have a few dozen on my property...maybe I'll start making some maple syrup!

So which ones are hard and which are soft?

 

[joefrompa]

I have 2 crimson kings on my property. Beautiful spherical canopy - but no dynamic color in the fall. Lovely tree.

Regarding tree #3 - the bark looks pretty rough, but what's telling you it's in trouble?

 

[dannynelson77]

Sugar is Hard

Red is Soft

Norway.....some say Hard some say Soft....I think from my experience its somewhere inbetween.

 

[BurnIt13]

I have 2 crimson kings on my property. Beautiful spherical canopy - but no dynamic color in the fall. Lovely tree.

Regarding tree #3 - the bark looks pretty rough, but what's telling you it's in trouble?

Well, nothing too scientific....the bark looks pretty rough near the soil, and the fact that it is not budding on all of its branches anymore. The ones that do produce leaves are higher up near the top. A number of branches have even been shed.

I'm not cutting it down personally as it is right next to the power lines. When it comes time I'll either wait for it to fall or have my neighbor who is an arborist take it down from the top down.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Burnit, go ahead and try making some syrup. Do some reading up on it this winter and taps a few trees in the spring. It takes lots and lots of boiling to get to the syrup stage but well worth it in the end. Also, don't try to boil that stuff in the house else you might end up with some sticky ceilings and walls. The boiling is best done outdoors.

 

[Wood Duck]

I say:
#1 Norway (everyone agrees it is Crimson King)
#2 Norway or Sugar, not enough info to tell from the pics. Norway Maple leaf stems should give a milky sap when you break them off the tree, but at this time of the year you may have to squeeze the sap out of them. Sugar Maple leaves have clear sap.
#3 probably Red Maple, wierd Bark for a Red Maple but probably just an oddball individual.
#4 Red Maple

 

[Woody Stover]

#3 probably Red Maple, wierd Bark for a Red Maple but probably just an oddball individual.

Never seen bark like that on Reds I've seen so far (admittedly few) but the leaf it right on.

 

[jpl1nh]

Well I'll buck the trend here on 2 throu 4 and agree that 1 is Norway cultivar "Crimson King", But I believe 2 is red maple, the most common wild maple in southern and central New England, and three and 4 are both sugar maple. The terms "hard maple" and "rock maple" both refer to sugar maple which is an extremely hard wood. Sugar maple is also sometimes referred to as Black Maple, which depending upon who you talk to, is either the same species as sugar maple (Acer Saccharum) or is sometimes divided into a separate species (Acer Nigra). Sugar maples in New England unfortunately seem to be in a general state of decline, perhaps due to warming climate, possibly due to other factors such as ozone, acid rain, or general atmospheric pollution.

 

[Wood Duck]

jpl1nh,
I believe you have Red and Sugar Maples mixed up. The leaf in pic #2 has five main points, and the edge is relatively smooth, without small teeth. This indicates a Sugar Maple or perhaps Norway Maple, but definitely not Red Maple. The leaves in pics 3 and 4 have three main lobes and lots of little teeth along the edges. This indicates Red Maple, and not Sugar Maple or Norway Maple.

You're right, Sugar Maple is Hard Maple, and the more desirable firewood compared to Red.

 

[firefighterjake]

This might help?



Red Maple:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/FactSheets/even-year-htm/RedMaple.htm

Sugar Maple:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/FactSheets/even-year-htm/SugarMaple.htm

Striped Maple:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/FactSheets/even-year-htm/StripedMaple.htm

Mountain Maple:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/FactSheets/even-year-htm/MountianMaple.htm

Silver Maple:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/FactSheets/even-year-htm/SilverMaple.htm

 

[firefighterjake]

I was just reading up on Norway Maple since I've never run across these up here in Maine . . . according to Wikipedia Norway maples are considered invasive in some states and now are banned in New Hampshire and Massachusetts . . . since I do not believe everything I read on Wikipedia I was looking for confirmation . . . I suspect any bans simply involve selling the trees and existing trees are left in place.

 

[Wood Duck]

Yes, I don't think any state or city has banned existing trees, just banned selling of new ones. In a lot of cases I don't think the bans are followed by sellers or enforced at all by the government.

Norway Maple is one of the most damaging invasive trees here in PA. It can invade more or less undisturbed forests, which makes it different than most invasive species. Once Norway Maples start growing they shade/outcompete/chimically inhibit most other trees and almost all of the native understory plants and shrubs. You end up with mostly bare ground beneath a solid canopy of Norway Maple. About the only good thing you can say about Norway maple as an invasive species is that is doesn't spread especially fast, it is slow but steady, by invasive species standards.

 

[fahmahbob]

Wow thanks for the replies everyone! For my entire life (30 years) I had thought that the red maples were the sugar maples. Good to know! I have a few dozen on my property...maybe I'll start making some maple syrup!

So which ones are hard and which are soft?

3 & 4 are almost certainly red maple. And from what I've read, they're used for making syrup just like sugar maple (I've only tried sugar maples myself).

 

[Wood Duck]

Sugar maple is also called Hard Maple I guess because the wood is dense and hard. Red Maple is called Soft Maple, and so is Silver Maple. I think the wood of Red and Silver are similar as firewood. There is a tree called Black Maple, which is sort of rare, and I think its wood is similar to Sugar maple. Striped Maple, or Moosewood, is a much smaller tree than the other maples, and I don't know what the wood is like.

Sugar maple is used for syrup and sugar because it has a much higher sugar content than other maples, but I think any maple could be used to make syrup, you might just need a lot more sap. I think most trees have sugary sap in the spring, but most have lower sugar content and don't have the nice flavor maple has, but if you really had to, you could make oak syrup or brch syrup. Actually birch syrup sounds pretty good.

 

[jpl1nh]

Yes, I don't think any state or city has banned existing trees, just banned selling of new ones. In a lot of cases I don't think the bans are followed by sellers or enforced at all by the government.

Norway Maple is one of the most damaging invasive trees here in PA. It can invade more or less undisturbed forests, which makes it different than most invasive species. Once Norway Maples start growing they shade/outcompete/chimically inhibit most other trees and almost all of the native understory plants and shrubs. You end up with mostly bare ground beneath a solid canopy of Norway Maple. About the only good thing you can say about Norway maple as an invasive species is that is doesn't spread especially fast, it is slow but steady, by invasive species standards.

And it's decent firewood

State of NH enforces that ban. If you're a nursery selling Norway maple, you're gonna get fined. Nobody's trying to get around it though, it's not a huge loss to the nursery industry, not worth trying to buck the legislation over.