The undersides of leaves can sometime be slightly whitish. Further sign would be drooping branches on bigger trees and bright vivid red leaves during fall. If your tree shows clear sign of showy red flowers between January and March, you can mark it down as a red maple tree. Maple sugar, red maple have typically 5 lobes and Japanese maple between 5 to 7 lobes. To do this, begin by counting lobes of leaves. The 3 most popular type of maple trees are Maple Sugar, Red maple and Japanese Maple. Once you have established you tree is part of the Acer family, you need to identify the right specie. A typical maple tree leave has 3 to 9 veins in each leading to a lobe. They are discernable by their opposite leaf arrangement and their veined and lobed. They have a V-shaped form with wings on both sides with seed pods in the middle.Īnother clear sign to identify a maple tree is its maple leaf.

The distinctive shape of the samara allows it to be carried far away from the tree when falling down and providing the tree with a wider dispersion area for his seeds. These fruits are a distinctive sign of a maple tree. If you happen to be in spring, try spotting some samaras on your tree. Just follow these steps to help you identify your maple tree and its type: Maple trees are renowned not only for being featured on the Canadian flag, producing vast quantity of delicious maple syrup or making great guitar and baseball bats but also for their appearance and their quality to transform and enchant a landscape. The maple family is referred to as Acer and the words has its roots in Latin which means “sharp” due to the distinctive points of the maple leaf.

Most maple tree species are indigenous to Asia but can also be found in Europe, North America and Africa. Similar to Sugar Maple (which is not native to South Jersey) but can be told by the milky sap which exudes when a leaf is snapped off.There is more than a hundred different species of maple trees in the world. Strangely popular as a garden tree, this species is much inferior to any of the native maples, though its rich butter-yellow fall color is attractive. Found in a wide range of marginal habitats and waste places. Widespread and often common as a self-sown tree, spreading from nearby gardens. The first native tree to flower in the spring and a major component of fall color. Plants with three-lobed leaves (variety trilobum) are often found and sometimesĬalled Trident Maple. Flowers March to April.Ī very variable tree but always easily identified to species.

Usually in wetter soils, even in swamps and bogs. Widespread and abundant one of the commonest broad-leaved trees in the region. Very similar in appearance to Red Maple but leaves distinctive and trunk on older trees generally becomes broader and more massive. Along with Red Maple, this will be the first tree that most people will see in flower each year. Not native in the gravel soils of the coastal plain but occasionally found self-sown Very common as a garden tree and popular as a large shade tree. A medium-sized, spreading tree with rather unusual leaves for a maple. Seeds fairly readily and often found on waste land and marginal habitats where it has spread from nearby garden trees. (Ash-leaved Maple) Native to the USA (including Northern New Jersey) but prefers deeper valley soils not found in the coastal gravel plains of Identification of the species found in Cape May is relatively straightforward based on leaves and, occasionally, buds or twigs.

Red Maple is widespread and abundant, others are rather uncommon to common. Sites of old houses, or where self-seeded from nearby garden plants. Petalless, wind-pollinated flowers that open on bare branches before the leaves, mostly palmate leaves (though not always) and good fall color.ĭespite being associated with all things American, there is only one native species of maple in Cape May county, the others only occurring as naturalized trees on Maples are an integral part of North American culture, providing useful wood, large shade trees, maple syrup and spectacular fall color.

Types maple tree