which maple is which?

[Old Greenhorn]

OK Folks, I need either help or confirmation. Here are 3 numbered maple leaf photos, which species is each? I promise these are from 3 separate trees (no tricks here), less than 20' apart.
This is number 1:


 
This is number 2:


 
This is number 3:


 

#2 and #3 are taken from below the leaf. I believe number one is Sugar Maple, I believe #2 is Red maple, and I honestly have no flipping idea what #3 is, but probably Red Maple. Can y'all help me get this straight?

[WDH]

You got them right.  The hard maples do not have teeth on the leaf margin between the lobes.  The soft maples, red maple in this case, do have teeth on the leaf margin between the lobes.  Your pics illustrate this clearly. 

[thecfarm]

I never knew that about the teeth. Thank you!!!

[WDH]

It is all in the teeth ;D. 

[doc henderson]

Danny, do you have comparison pics of the two leaf patterns?  great now @Southside  will bring up "hens teeth",  very rare.  

[WDH]

OGH's pics show the two patterns.  The first pic is sugar maple, no teeth between the lobes.  Pics two and three are red maple and show the toothed margins between the lobes. 

[doc henderson]

now I see it thanks.

[Southside]

Not to be confused with Kansas Maple, which are rare as hens teeth.  :D

[HemlockKing]

My favourite maple leaf is the silver maple, I have 99% red maple 

[aigheadish]

I'll be the ignorant one to ask- What is meant by lobes? Is that the "under"side of the leaves returning to the center/stem? I guess, on the tree, it'd be the upperside, so from leaf tip as it moves back toward the tree?

[WDH]

Indentations of the margin toward the mid-rib.  Look at the pic of the sugar maple leaf (pic #).  There are two shallow lobes at the bottom of the leaf on each side and another two, one on each side in the middle, and one at the tip.  This is a 5-lobed leaf.  Lobes are sometimes round or sometimes pointed.  An un-lobed leaf is a single blade with not breaks or indentations on the margin towards the mid-rib. 

Leaves have many shapes and there are many types.  Here is some info on the complexity of leaves. 

https://extension.uga.edu/content/dam/extension-county-offices/clarke-county/4-h/forestry-judging-information/leaf-identification.pdf

[aigheadish]

Excellent document @WDH Thanks!

[SwampDonkey]

With your sugar maple there, to be certain that it isn't a Norway, get a fresh leaf and observe the leave petiole (stem) where it was broke free of the tree. If milky sap, then it's a Norway. ;) Being a yard tree, one never knows.

[Don P]

Would you say it has teeth in its sinus?

[Blue Noser]

With your sugar maple there, to be certain that it isn't a Norway, get a fresh leaf and observe the leave petiole (stem) where it was broke free of the tree. If milky sap, then it's a Norway. ;) Being a yard tree, one never knows.

With a petiole that long, my first thought was Norway maple.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, all you Norway Maple guys, I just grabbed a leaf and checked: No milk. Also the Norway Maple is 5-7 lobed leaves and the Sugar Maple is 3-5 lobes. Norway Maple is considered and invasive in NY because it can hamper normal growth in places where it tales over and shape the ground not allowing anything else to grow.

Don, teeth in the sinus sounds like a painful condition. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Had one Norway here in the yard that seeded prolifically in the flower beds, around the edges of pine or spruce. About anywhere I didn't mow or bush whack. :D Transplanted some of them along my property edge.