my neighbor has this maple tree but we are both unsure of what it is. it makes a very unique color in the fall, and from what ive noticed of branches falling out of it once in a while, the wood is very dense and heavy.
right now its making some long stringy looking seeds and some small leaves
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39431/IMAG2200.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39431/IMAG2199.jpg)
**EDIT: could a mod help me out, i didnt notice there was a tree ID forum. Could someone move this thread please?
You need a close-up of the foliage, and the flowers, if present. Just from looking at the bark, I'd guess Acer rubrum.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Stu Redman.
here it is with foliage. its making helicopters like the rest of the maples.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39431/IMAG2261.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39431/IMAG2260.jpg)
Looks to be a maple leaf. ;)
Lobes don't look like red (Acer rubrum) however.
what kind of maple though?
The bark is screaming sugar maple, but those leaves look a little strange.
It is sugar maple. Red maple or silver maple has teeth between the lobes. On sugar maple, the margins of the lobes are smooth.
i thought this one was a sugar maple?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39431/IMAG2263.jpg)
Yes, to sugar (hard) maple.
Notice in both pics that the leaf margins between the lobes is entire (smooth).
The other picture (where you say "i thought this one was a sugar maple") looks more like Acer platanoides aka "Norway Maple"... It was widely planted in urban forests around the NE... not sure if that holds for Indiana. But cultivars with a purplish tint to the leaves are common.
There are a couple ways to tell for sure if you're not confident: the shape of the keys is one (on norway pretty much a horizontal key, on sugar more of a horseshoe); but easier for me to explain is that if you pick a leaf from a norway maple, the petiole (stem) will exude a white latex which is not present in any of our native maples (at least here in the east).
Picked a leaf off my Norway maple which gets referred to as Schwedler maple as well as Norway.
The leaf petiole exuded the milky latex. Here is the leaf but cannot see the small drop of white sap at the end.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/Scan_20150511_28229.jpg)
the tree with the dark color leaves stay that way year around. there is no green on them at the beginning of the year. so i dont think its a norway maple.
I'm not following what you are saying. Prolly not your fault.. ;D
A bit confusing... beenthere, I think he's seen the photo you posted and now thinks the platanoides has to start out the year green or something like that..
Dirtmover, A. platanoides has many cultivars (varieties bred for certain attributes), including several that have the colour in your photograph... these trees keep that colour all year round. They are the same species as what beenthere posted, just a different cultivar. A cultivar is denoted by: ' '... so for example Acer platanoides 'Crimson King.'
Here are some similar images to the one you posted:
http://www.bluerivernursery.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_349.jpg
http://www.lightscapes.info/onewithnature/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Norway-Maple-Acer-platanoides-Crimson-King-Leaf.jpg
etc...
I don't think that the leaf in the first pic in this thread has enough lobes to be norway maple.
WDH I completely agree; I was referring to his second picture where he says, "I thought this was sugar maple"...
My opinion is that it is sugar maple. I have lots of them in my woodlot.
Yes, most everyone has agreed that it's sugar maple.
However, the third post with pictures, where the text says, "I thought this one was a sugar maple..." is, without doubt, a norway maple, Acer platanoides.