The maple tree is known for its striking fall color and distinctive leaves. Native to many areas in North America, maples grow in wooded areas. All maple trees are deciduous, losing their leaves in winter and growing new foliage the following spring. A number of maples become quite large when mature and make excellent shade trees when given room to spread.
Maples are distinguished by opposite leaf arrangement. The leaves in most species are palmate veined and lobed, with 3 to 9 (rarely to 13) veins each leading to a lobe, one of which is central or apical. A small number of species differ in having palmate compound, pinnate compound, pinnate veined or unlobed leaves. Maple flowers are green, yellow, orange or red. Though individually small, the effect of an entire tree in flower can be striking in several species.
Most maples are shade-tolerant when young and are often riparian, understory, or pioneer species rather than climax overstory trees. There are many maples, ranging from the small Tatarian maple (Acer tataricum) to the towering red maple (Acer rubrum), which can reach heights of 60 feet or more. In this article, learn to know the different varieties of maple trees available around the world.
Types/Varieties Of Maple Trees
Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
Silver Maple also referred to as soft maple or white maple are large deciduous trees known for having an impressively rapid growth rate, in addition to producing a prolific amount of seeds during the spring. These trees reach maturity quickly, growing approximately 24 inches or more per season.
A mature silver maple stands between 50 to 70 feet tall with a spread of 40 to 60 feet. The opposite-facing leaves turn yellow and brown during the fall, and drop off during the winter months. In the spring, the silver maple is one of the first trees to bloom, producing showy red flowers. Silver maples have a strong oval shape, although some cultivars have branches that are susceptible to breakage, requiring careful pruning.
Inconspicuous greenish flowers appear along the shoots before the leaves unfurl in spring. The paired, winged fruit are the largest of any maple. The seeds are food for squirrels and birds; young twigs and foliage are eaten by deer. Silver maples are adaptable trees. They tolerate many different soil types, from fertile to poor soils, so long as they are moist and well-draining. This tree requires full sun, but also tolerates partial shade.
Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Bigleaf Maple also referred to as Oregon Maple is a large deciduous tree that can soar to heights of 100 feet in the wild. In home gardens, they’re usually a much cozier size. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska south to southern California.
The leaves of Bigleaf Maple, as the name implies, are the largest of maple leaves. Generally, deeply lobed (occasionally 3-lobed) leaves ( measuring 8-12” long and wide) emerge with burgundy tones in spring, mature to glossy medium to deep green, and finally turn yellow to yellow-orange in fall. The Petioles contain a milky sap. In spring, bigleaf maple produces flowers in pendulous racemes 10-15 cm (4-6 in) long, greenish-yellow with inconspicuous petals.
Bigleaf maple generally grows on coarse, gravelly, moist soils, such as those found near river, lake, or stream edges, but it can occur on other moist soils such as seepage areas. It commonly occurs in mixed groups of trees with red alder, black cottonwood, Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock.
Shirasawa’s Maple (Acer shirasawanum)
Shirasawa maple also referred to as fullmoon maple is a species of maple native to Japan. It is grown as an ornamental tree in gardens for its foliage and autumn color.This species grows as a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to 8–15 m tall with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The bark is smooth on both young and old trees. The shoots are slender, and hairless. The leaves are rounded, 4.5–8 cm long and 6–12 cm broad.
In autumn, the leaves turn bright gold or orange to dark red. The flowers are 1 cm diameter, with five dark purplish-red sepals, five small whitish petals (soon lost), and red stamens; they are andromonoecious, with inflorescences containing flowers with either both sexes, or just male, and are produced 10–20 together in erect terminal corymbs in early spring soon after the leaves appear.
Coral Bark Maple (Acer palmatum)
The Sango-Kaku Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), commonly known as the coral bark maple, named for its winter display of soft coral to bright salmon-colored branches, provides a focal point in the garden to cheer even the gloomiest day. It grows as a small tree reaching about 10-30 feet tall. This tree features bright green palmate leaves spring through summer and yellow to light red foliage in fall.
The coral bark maple yields inconspicuous red flowers in spring. It is grown for its showy orange, red and yellow leaves in the fall, and for its red twigs and bark that give a pleasing contrast to otherwise drab winter colors in a garden. Cool winter weather, combined with sun, will sharpen the color of its coral bark. It can be grown in a container, growing 6 to 10 feet tall.
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) is one of the most beloved ornamental trees in the world, native to Japan, Korea, and China, and cultivated in gardens globally for thousands of years. It is extraordinarily variable — over 1,000 named cultivars exist, ranging from compact, mounding shrubs to small multi-stemmed trees, with leaf forms ranging from the typical palmate shape to threadlike, deeply dissected lace-like forms in the dissectum group.
Leaf colors span an extraordinary range — fresh greens, deep burgundies, purples, bronzes, and variegated combinations in summer, exploding into fiery oranges, reds, and golds in autumn. The tree grows slowly and gracefully, rarely exceeding 8 meters, and its sculptural branching structure is as beautiful in winter silhouette as in full leaf. It is the cornerstone of Japanese garden design and is considered a living art form in its native country.
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Laceleaf Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum dissectum)
Lace-leaf Japanese red maple trees (Acer palmatum dissectum) are named for the deeply dissected, delicate leaves that give these trees a lacy, elegantly drooping appearance. This ornamental deciduous tree reaches 6 to 12 feet tall, spreading 9 to 15 feet wide. These trees are grown primarily for their decorative leaves, but they also exhibit red blossoms in the spring. Growing this low-maintenance tree gives the yard a beautiful showcase plant.
The tree can be grown in a container as well as in the ground, and it produces delicate, wispy leaves. Japanese laceleaf maple trees prefer rich, well-drained acidic soil, plenty of moisture, and minimal fertilizer and pruning.
Three Flowered Maple (Acer triflorum)
Acer triflorum also referred to as the three-flowered maple is a small deciduous tree that typically grows 20 to 30 feet in height with a comparable spread. Trees are upright and spreading with a dense, delicately branched crown. The leaves are trifoliate, meaning comprised of three leaflets, and opposite. The leaflets are oval to lance-shaped and dark green and slightly fuzzy above. Dark green leaves change to rich yellow and red in the fall. Three-flower maple has vertically peeling ash-brown to almost golden amber bark.
Autumn Blaze (Freeman Maple)
Also known as a Freeman maple, the Autumn Blaze is a hybrid between the red maple (A. rubrum) and silver maple (A. saccharinum). It can expand up to 50 feet in height and sports a branching system that narrows as it reaches the crown.
The Autumn Blaze maple has simple, star-shaped leaves with palmate venation, or veins growing in a fan shape, that reach up to 5 inches in length. Leaf margins have toothed edges, and they’re arranged at opposite positions – meaning leaves grow directly across from one another on a branch. The leaf blade is between 2 and 4 inches long and has a red or green petiole where the leaf stalk is attached to the stem.
Although reddish leaves emerge in spring, the foliage turns green as the leaves mature. It’s in fall, however, that the tree really puts on a display by creating a vibrant, showy display of yellow, orange or brilliant red that lasts several weeks.
It prefers well-drained moist, acidic soil in the full sun to partial shade. It makes an excellent shade, lawn, or street tree that can tolerate heavy clay soils and even occasionally wet soils. Once trees are established they can tolerate some drought.
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Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is a common ornamental deciduous shade tree. The tree grows 60 to 75 feet tall with up to a 50-foot spread. Sugar maples are often planted for their show of color in the fall, when their green leaves turn yellow, orange or dark red. Sugar maples tolerate almost all soil types as long as the soil is not salty.
This variety of maple provides the sap for making maple syrup. Whether growing the tree for shade, for ornamental value, for making syrup or as a container plant such as a bonsai, starting the tree from seed is an economical way to grow your own sugar maple.
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
With varieties in either full rounded or upright forms, red maple trees have a high canopy that allows you to see its branch structure. Not only does the tree have a stunning fall display with red twigs and multicolored leaves in red and orange, it also has bright red buds in the spring. The buds open to show red flowers and, later, dangling red-winged fruit, called samaras, that are as attractive as the flowers. Red maple is also referred to as swamp maple, Carolina red maple and scarlet maple.
Red maple trees grow about 36 inches each year and can grow up to 120 feet tall, though they average about 40 to 50 feet. The trees live anywhere from 50 to 150 years and work well as specimen trees in a landscape that can accommodate their size. Since they like both wet and dry soils, they work next to ponds or creeks and also in drier areas. The tree doesn’t work well near sidewalks or driveways because its roots grow close to the surface and can cause those surfaces to buckle.
Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)
Acer platanoides, commonly known as the Norway maple or Crimson King Maple, is a large, vigorous deciduous tree native to Europe and western Asia, from Norway south to the Caucasus, widely planted across North America and other temperate regions as a street and shade tree throughout the 20th century. Its leaves closely resemble those of the sugar maple but can be distinguished by the milky white sap that oozes from a broken leaf stalk — sugar maple sap is clear.
The tree is extremely tolerant of urban conditions — pollution, compacted soils, and drought — making it a popular choice for city planting, but it has become seriously invasive in parts of North America, spreading aggressively into native forests and outcompeting native maples by leafing out earlier in spring and dropping leaves later in autumn, thus suppressing regeneration of native understory plants through extended shade. The cultivar ‘Crimson King’ with its deep purple foliage is one of the most widely planted ornamental trees in temperate cities worldwide.
Full Moon Maple (Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’)
The fullmoon maple is a small deciduous tree or large shrub native to the mountain forests of Japan and Korea, closely related to the Japanese maple but subtly different in leaf form and growth habit. The leaves are nearly circular in outline with 7 to 11 lobes radiating from the center like the rays of the sun — the “fullmoon” name referring to the rounded, complete circle of the leaf outline.
Unlike the Japanese maple, the fullmoon maple typically retains a more consistently green leaf through summer before delivering exceptional autumn color — deep crimson, scarlet, and orange shades that are considered among the finest of any maple species. The cultivar ‘Aconitifolium’ (also called the fernleaf fullmoon maple) has deeply dissected, fern-like leaves and is considered one of the most spectacular small trees for autumn color in the world. It grows slowly and prefers cool, moist, sheltered conditions in dappled shade.
Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum)
The paperbark maple (Acer griseum) features a deeply textured, layered bark and thick, dramatic foliage that makes the plant ideal as an ornamental or a shade tree. When mature, the paperbark maple grows to about 15 to 30 feet tall and wide, usually with an oval to a rounded oval shape. In rare instances, old trees may grow as high as 40 feet. This tree grows more slowly than many maples and may take 20 years to reach full height.
As a relatively small deciduous tree, paperbark maple provides unique beauty to the landscape, thanks to its fall color (typical of maples) and its peeling copper-orange to reddish-brown bark (quite unusual for maples). Thus, this tree adds ornamental interest year-round.
Paperbark maples produce greenish flowers in spring (usually April), but the blooms are not significant. The flowers then give way to the familiar maple seed samaras (winged seed pods), about 1 1/4 inches long. The seeds are unusually large for maples.
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Amur Maple (Acer ginnala)
Amur Maple (Acer ginnala) has 3-lobed leaves, with the middle lobe longer than the others and tapering to a sharp point. Each leaf is 1-1/2 to 3 inches long. The large multi-stemmed shrub or small tree can grow 15 to 18 feet in height, with an equal spread.
Amur maple bark is gray-brown and smooth with some dark stripes or striations. The dark green, glossy foliage turns yellow and red in the fall. The yellow-white flowers are fragrant and open in mid to late spring. Seeds are borne in winged, propeller-shaped samaras. In April and May, panicles of small fragrant white flowers are produced.
The brilliant red fall foliage and compact shape of the amur red maple (Acer ginnala) make the deciduous tree a smart choice to anchor a front-yard planting or provide a focal point in a mixed border.
Hedge Maple (Acer campestre)
The hedge maple (Acer campestre) is a Medium-sized deciduous tree with highly variable shape. It can be used for its timber and as an ornamental plant. They have a rounded shape and low branches that nearly touch the ground at the base. The base can even become mulit-stemmed and grown as a shrub.
Hedge Maple has dark green foliage throughout the season. The lobed leaves turn yellow in fall. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are ornamentally significant. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
Hornbeam Maple (Acer carpinifolium)
The hornbeam maple is a botanically fascinating small deciduous tree native to the forests of Japan, whose leaves bear no resemblance to those of typical maples — instead of the characteristic lobed maple leaf, the hornbeam maple produces simple, oval, prominently parallel-veined leaves almost indistinguishable from those of the hornbeam (Carpinus), hence both its common and species names. This unusual leaf form makes it the most morphologically deceptive of all maples, and specimens are often misidentified in gardens and arboreta by those unfamiliar with the species.
The maple identity becomes clear in autumn when the leaves turn golden yellow and the distinctive winged samaras, clearly maple fruits, become apparent. It is a shade-tolerant understory tree of cool, moist mountain forests in Japan, growing slowly to about 10 meters. It is a collectors’ plant valued precisely for its botanical curiosity and its elegant, refined summer texture.
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Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)
Acer pseudoplatanus, known as the sycamore in the United Kingdom and the sycamore maple in the United States, is a large, flowering plant species, deciduous and broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind and coastal exposure.
A Sycamore maple can grow up to 40 meters (132 ft) tall and can reach a trunk circumference of up to two meters (7 ft). The tree species stands out particularly by their stately growth and their distinctively pronounced treetop. Especially as a solitary tree, the sycamore can develop into a magnificent tree.
Sycamore has a characteristic leafy shape similar to that of Norway maple, but the sycamore leaves are rounded. The leaves have long, reddish colored stems, which are usually five-lobed, with the front three lobes are about the same size. Often the two lower lobes are not fully formed. The underside of the sycamore leaf is gray-green in color, while the top is dark green. The leaf position of this tree is opposite. The leaves turn intense in autumn, from gold-yellow to red. Especially after the first frosty nights, the discoloration progresses rapidly.
Like the Norway maple, it has become invasive in several regions outside its native range, particularly in the British Isles, Ireland, and parts of North America. The timber is valued for musical instrument making — the backs, sides, and necks of violins and cellos are traditionally crafted from sycamore maple.
Tatarian Maple (Acer tataricum)
The Tatarian maple is a small deciduous tree or large shrub native to southeastern Europe and western Asia, from Austria and the Balkans east through Turkey, the Caucasus, and into Central Asia. It is notable among maples for having leaves that are only shallowly lobed or sometimes unlobed in mature specimens — more ovate than palmate — with doubly toothed margins, giving it a less immediately “maple-like” appearance than many relatives.
Small creamy white flowers appear in late spring, later than most maples, and are followed by attractive bright red samaras that persist on the tree through summer and provide a colorful display before autumn leaf color develops. It is extremely cold hardy and drought tolerant, making it valuable for challenging continental climates. The subspecies ginnala (Amur maple) is sometimes treated as a separate species and is hardier and more widely cultivated than the type.
Vine Leaf Maple (Acer cissifolium)
Acer circinatum also referred to as the vine maple commonly grows as a large shrub growing to around 5 to 8 metres (16 to 26 ft) tall, but it will occasionally form a small to medium-sized tree, exceptionally to 18 metres (59 ft) tall. The shoots are slender and hairless. It typically grows in the under story below much taller forest trees, but can sometimes be found in open ground, and occurs at altitudes from sea level up to 1,500 meters.
The leaves are pinnate and are composed of three single leaves. The individual leaves are irregularly sinuate, ovate and pointed. The petiole is long and reddish, leaf margin coarsely toothed and the leaf arrangement is alternate. The leaves turn bright yellow to orange-red in fall.
Vine maple trees can bend over easily. Sometimes, this can cause the top of the tree to grow into the ground and send out a new root system, creating a natural arch. This characteristic makes it the only maple capable of layering.
Snakebark Maple (Acer tegmentosum)
Snakebark Maple is a small to medium understory tree native to China and Myanmar growing 30 to 50 feet tall and 20 to 40 feet wide. It is often shorter and multi-trunked with arching branches and a spreading crown. Snakebark Maple is part of a group of trees known for the striped look of the bark.
Snakebark Maple is covered in stunning racemes of yellow flowers along the branches in early spring. It has bluish-green foliage with dark green veins which emerges light green in spring. The serrated lobed leaves turn an outstanding gold in the fall. The fruit is not ornamentally significant. The smooth bluish-green bark and light green branches are extremely showy and add significant winter interest.
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Korean Maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum)
The deciduous Korean Maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum) is also sometimes referred to as the Purplebloom Maple. This is because it produces unique little purple flowers when the new foliage begins to appear in spring. It grows about 12 to 18 inches per year. The mature tree is 15 to 25 feet tall.
The leaves are 4 to 6 inches wide and have usually 9 to 11 lobes. The green leaves turn shades of red, yellow and orange in fall. This species exhibits Marcescence (tends to hold on to a portion of its dried leaves through the winter). The flowers are white with purple bracts. New growth is coated in white, sticky hairs. This characteristic distinguishes the plant from the similar Acer sieboldianum, which lacks hairs.
Painted Maple (Acer pictum)
The painted maple is a medium to large deciduous tree native to a wide range across eastern Asia, including China, Korea, Japan, Siberia, and the Himalayas, making it one of the most geographically widespread of all Asian maples. It occupies mixed deciduous and coniferous forests across its range and is an important component of the temperate forests of northeastern China and the Russian Far East.
The leaves are typically five-lobed with entire or slightly toothed margins and turn yellow to pale gold in autumn. The species name pictum means “painted,” and refers to the ornamental appeal of the tree rather than any specific visual feature. Several botanical varieties are recognized across its range, varying in leaf size, shape, and texture. In Japan, the tree is appreciated as a forest maple with good autumn color, and it is occasionally cultivated in Western arboreta and botanical gardens as a specimen of the diverse Asian maple flora.
Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum)
The trident maple is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to eastern China, Korea, and Japan, named for its distinctive three-lobed leaf whose lobes point forward like the prongs of a trident. It is one of the most widely used trees in the art of bonsai, particularly in China and Japan, where its small leaves, attractive flaking bark on mature specimens, good ramification, and vivid autumn color — turning orange, red, and yellow — make it an ideal subject for miniaturization.
In landscape use, the trident maple is an excellent small street tree, tolerating urban conditions, heat, drought, and poor soils better than many maples. The bark of mature trees becomes scaly and flaking, providing attractive winter interest. It is increasingly planted as a street tree in temperate cities as an alternative to more overused species, and its small stature makes it suitable for planting beneath power lines.
Miyabe Maple (Acer miyabei)
Acer miyabei also referred to as Miyabe’s or Miyabe maple is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–20 m tall, with a trunk 30–40 cm diameter with rough, grey-brown bark. The leaves are five-lobed (the basal pair of lobes usually small), 7–20 cm long and 12–20 cm broad, with a 5–15 cm long petiole; the petiole bleeds white latex if cut. The flowers are produced in spring at the same time as the leaves open, yellow-green, in erect corymbs. The fruit is a samara with two winged seeds aligned at 180°, each seed 8 mm wide, flat, with a 2 cm wing.
Shantung Maple (Acer truncatum)
The small, rounded Chinese Shantung maple (Acer truncatum) reaches heights of 25 feet with dense branching at the crown and a spread equal to its height. The cold-hardy specimen produces reddish purple leaves in the spring and progresses to dark green, turning many shades of yellow, orange, purple and red during the autumn season. Yellow flowers appear in April. Shantung maples generally do not suffer from insect and disease problems.
Field Maple (Acer campestre)
The field maple is the only maple species native to the British Isles and is widespread across Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, typically found as a component of hedgerows, woodland edges, and scrub on chalk and limestone soils. It is a relatively small maple, rarely exceeding 20 meters in height and often remaining shrubby in exposed hedgerow situations. The leaves are small, five-lobed, and turn a warm, buttery yellow in autumn — less spectacular than many maples but consistently attractive.
Field maple is among the best native trees for wildlife in the British Isles, supporting a high diversity of insects, and its dense, twiggy growth makes it an excellent hedging plant. The timber is hard, fine-grained, and pale cream in color, historically used for wood turning, musical instruments, and veneer. It responds exceptionally well to clipping and coppicing, making it a versatile tree for landscape management.
Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)
The vine maple is a slender, multi-stemmed deciduous tree or large shrub native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from British Columbia south to northern California, typically growing as an understory plant beneath Douglas firs, western red cedars, and other conifers of the Pacific temperate rainforest. Its common name comes from its growth habit in deep shade, where stems grow long, sprawling, and vine-like, sometimes layering to the ground and rooting where they touch the soil.
In open, sunny situations it grows more upright and shrubby. The leaves are nearly circular in outline with seven to nine shallow lobes and turn extraordinary shades of orange, red, and sometimes deep crimson in autumn — some of the most vivid fall color of any Pacific Northwest plant. It is an important component of native plant gardens in the Pacific Northwest and provides excellent habitat structure for birds and small mammals.
Coral Bark Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’)
The coral bark maple is one of the most distinctive and widely planted cultivars of the Japanese maple, grown primarily for the extraordinary color of its young stems rather than its foliage — though its autumn color is also beautiful. In autumn, the leaves turn a soft, clear yellow — gentle rather than fiery — and as they fall they reveal a dense tracery of young branches and twigs in vivid coral-red to salmon-orange color that glows brilliantly through the grey months of winter.
The intensity of the stem color is greatest on young wood and in cold, bright weather, making the tree an outstanding choice for winter garden interest. It is a relatively vigorous upright grower among Japanese maple cultivars, reaching 4 to 6 meters. It is also sold under the name ‘Senkaki’ and is one of the most reliable and easy-to-grow Japanese maple cultivars for temperate gardens.
Rocky Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum)
The Rocky Mountain maple is a small, multi-stemmed deciduous tree or shrub native to western North America, found from Alaska south through the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico and east to South Dakota. It typically grows in moist mountain canyons, stream banks, and the margins of coniferous forests, often forming thickets on rocky slopes. It is a variable species with several recognized varieties adapted to different elevations and regional conditions.
The leaves are three to five lobed with sharply toothed margins and turn yellow to red in autumn. It is one of the hardiest and most drought-tolerant of western North American maples and is used in native plant restoration projects and erosion control plantings across the mountain west. Though too small and shrubby for significant timber, it provides important browse for deer and elk, nesting habitat for birds, and cover for small mammals in mountain ecosystems.
Boxelder Maple (Acer negundo)
The boxelder is the most morphologically unusual maple in North America — so different from the typical maple form that it is sometimes not immediately recognized as a maple at all. Unlike other maples with their simple, palmately lobed leaves, the boxelder has pinnately compound leaves divided into three to seven separate leaflets, resembling the leaves of ash or elder — hence its common name. It is also dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees, unlike most maples.
It is an extremely fast-growing, short-lived, opportunistic tree found across a vast range from Canada to Guatemala, typically colonizing disturbed habitats, roadsides, stream banks, and urban wastelands. Despite being considered a weedy tree of limited ornamental merit in its native range, variegated cultivars — particularly ‘Flamingo’ with its pink and white leaf margins — are popular ornamental plants in European gardens where its weedy tendencies are less expressed.
Chalk Maple (Acer leucoderme)
The chalk maple is a small deciduous tree native to the southeastern United States, found from North Carolina and Tennessee south through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and into Louisiana and Arkansas. It is closely related to the sugar maple but adapted to the thin, dry, alkaline soils of limestone outcrops and upland ridges where the sugar maple cannot thrive — the species name leucoderme means “white skin,” referring to the pale, chalky-white bark of mature trees.
It is a small, graceful tree rarely exceeding 8 meters and is considered one of the best small maples for autumn color in the American South, turning shades of yellow, orange, and red in a region where many trees offer limited fall color. Its tolerance of heat, drought, and alkaline soil makes it an excellent choice for difficult landscape situations in the Southeast where larger maples struggle.
Black Maple (Acer nigrum)
The black maple is a large deciduous tree closely related to and often considered a subspecies of the sugar maple, native to the central and eastern United States and adjacent Canada. It grows in similar forest habitats to the sugar maple and is equally important as a maple syrup source — some consider its sap slightly sweeter than that of the sugar maple.
It can be distinguished by its leaves, which have three main lobes rather than five (or with two smaller basal lobes), drooping leaf margins, and a velvety pubescence on the leaf undersides. The bark tends to be darker and more deeply furrowed than the sugar maple, giving rise to the “black” common name. In mixed forests, it often hybridizes with the sugar maple, producing intermediate forms that complicate identification. Its wood is sold commercially as hard maple alongside sugar maple lumber and shares the same uses in flooring, furniture, and butcher block countertops.
Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum)
The striped maple, also called moosewood or goosefoot maple, is a small, shade-tolerant deciduous tree native to the cool forests of eastern North America, from Nova Scotia and Quebec south along the Appalachians to Georgia. It is immediately recognizable by its bark — smooth and green with vertical white stripes running up the trunk and branches, a pattern that persists on young wood and is most vivid in winter.
This striped bark pattern is shared with several European maples and is thought to allow the green bark to photosynthesize — supplementing the tree’s energy intake during the leafless winter months. The leaves are large, three-lobed, and resemble a goose’s foot in shape. It is a common understory tree in beech-maple forests and is heavily browsed by moose — the species name recorded in its alternative common name — white-tailed deer, and snowshoe hares, which eat the bark and twigs in winter.
Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum)
The mountain maple is a small, shrubby deciduous tree native to the cool, moist forests of eastern North America, found from Newfoundland and Manitoba south along the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia and Tennessee. It typically grows as an understory shrub or small tree in moist, rocky woodlands, forest edges, and along stream banks, preferring cool, humid, shaded conditions.
Unlike most maples, which bear flowers in clusters, the mountain maple produces its flowers in erect, elongated spikes — a distinctive arrangement reflected in its species name spicatum, meaning “spiked.” The leaves are three-lobed with coarsely toothed margins and turn yellow, orange, and red in autumn. Though of little commercial timber value, it provides important browse for moose, deer, and other wildlife, and its thicket-forming habit makes it valuable for erosion control and stream bank stabilization in its native range.
Florida Maple (Acer saccharum subsp. floridanum)
The Florida maple is a southern subspecies of the sugar maple adapted to the hot, humid climate of the southeastern coastal plain, found from Virginia south through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and west into Texas. It is a smaller tree than the typical sugar maple, rarely exceeding 15 meters, with smaller leaves that show less of the classic five-lobed sugar maple shape and are more distinctly three-lobed in many specimens.
The bark tends to be paler and the overall tree more graceful and open in habit than the northern sugar maple. Despite its modest stature, it produces outstanding autumn color for the Deep South — one of the few trees that reliably turns orange and red in Florida’s limited autumn climate. Its adaptation to southern heat and humidity makes it a valuable landscape tree for the southeastern United States where the sugar maple itself struggles.
Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum)
The bigtooth maple is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States and northern Mexico, found from Montana and Idaho south through Utah, Colorado, and Arizona into the Sierra Madre Occidental. It grows primarily in mountain canyons, on sheltered slopes, and along stream courses in otherwise arid landscapes, often forming spectacular pure stands or groves. The species name grandidentatum means “large-toothed,” referring to the prominently large, irregular teeth on the three to five leaf lobes.
In autumn, bigtooth maple groves turn brilliant shades of orange, scarlet, and gold — creating famous fall foliage displays in the canyon country of Utah and in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas and New Mexico, where the trees’ warm colors contrast dramatically with the surrounding desert scrub and limestone cliffs. The sap can be tapped for syrup, and Native American tribes used various parts of the tree medicinally.
Canyon Maple (Acer grandidentatum var. sinuosum)
The canyon maple is a variety of the bigtooth maple found primarily in the limestone canyons of central Texas and northeastern Mexico, where it grows in sheltered ravines and along spring-fed streams in an otherwise dry landscape. It is sometimes treated as a separate species under the name Acer sinuosum.
Like the bigtooth maple, it produces excellent autumn color in shades of orange, red, and yellow, and because it grows in one of the southernmost extremes of maple distribution in North America, its fall color spectacle in the Texas Hill Country canyons — particularly in the Lost Maples State Natural Area of Bandera County — draws visitors from across the state each autumn. The trees in this location represent a relict population isolated from the main Rocky Mountain range since the end of the last ice age, when a cooler, moister climate allowed maples to occupy a much more continuous range.
Manchurian Maple (Acer mandshuricum)
The Manchurian maple is a small, elegant deciduous tree native to Manchuria, northeastern China, Korea, and the Russian Far East, valued in cultivation for its graceful habit, trifoliate leaves, and consistently reliable autumn color. The leaves are divided into three distinct leaflets on long stalks — a form shared with the paperbark maple and boxelder but quite distinct from most maples — and turn brilliant scarlet and orange-red in autumn, often among the earliest maples to color in fall.
It is a slender, open-crowned tree rarely exceeding 10 meters that grows naturally in mixed deciduous and coniferous forests on mountain slopes. In cultivation, it is considered one of the finest small maples for autumn color among the trifoliate species, and its delicate texture and refined form make it an excellent specimen tree for smaller gardens. It is not as widely known in Western horticulture as it deserves, and represents an excellent underused small tree for temperate gardens.
Nikko Maple (Acer maximowiczianum, formerly Acer nikoense)
The Nikko maple is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to Japan and central China, named after the Nikko mountain region of Japan where it is a characteristic component of the temperate mixed forests. Like the Manchurian maple, it has trifoliate leaves — three leaflets on a common stalk — but the leaflets are larger, slightly hairy, and somewhat reminiscent of ash leaves.
The autumn color is consistently outstanding, producing deep crimson and rich burgundy shades that persist for several weeks, making it one of the most reliably spectacular small maples for fall display in the garden. It grows slowly and gracefully, developing an attractive rounded crown, and thrives in cool, moist, humus-rich soil in dappled to partial shade. It was considered a great horticultural prize when introduced to Western cultivation in the late 19th century and remains a coveted specimen among maple enthusiasts and collectors of rare ornamental trees.
Italian Maple (Acer opalus)
The Italian maple is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to southern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula and southern France east through Italy and the Balkans to Turkey and the Caucasus, typically found in dry, rocky woodland and scrub on limestone soils at low to medium elevations. It is the most common native maple of the Mediterranean region and one of the few maples well-adapted to summer drought and alkaline, shallow soils.
The leaves are broadly five-lobed with rounded lobes and shallow sinuses, turning yellow in autumn. One of its most distinctive features is its very early flowering — producing clusters of small yellow flowers in late winter to early spring, often before any leaves emerge, making it an important early pollen source for insects. It is not widely cultivated outside its native range but deserves greater use in gardens on dry, alkaline soils in warm temperate climates where many other maples struggle.
Montpellier Maple (Acer monspessulanum)
The Montpellier maple is a small, neat deciduous or semi-evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region and southwestern Asia, from Portugal and Morocco east through the Mediterranean basin to Iran. It is among the most drought-tolerant of all maples, thriving on sun-baked limestone hillsides, garrigue scrub, and rocky outcrops where summer drought is severe.
The leaves are distinctive — three-lobed with rounded, entire-margined lobes and a leathery, dark green, glossy upper surface — and in mild climates the tree may hold some leaves through winter. It is a small, slow-growing tree with a dense, rounded crown, rarely exceeding 10 meters. In cultivation, it is an excellent choice for hot, dry Mediterranean-climate gardens and for alkaline soils, providing reliable shade and yellow autumn color without requiring irrigation once established. The ornamental form ‘Fastigiatum’ has a narrow, upright habit useful for restricted spaces.
Hawthorn Maple (Acer crataegifolium)
The hawthorn maple is a small, graceful deciduous tree native to the forests and woodland edges of Japan, where it grows as an understory plant in mixed mountain forests at low to moderate elevations. Like the hornbeam maple, it has leaves that diverge from the typical maple pattern — the leaves are small, ovate to three-lobed, with toothed margins that recall the leaves of hawthorn (Crataegus) — giving the tree both its common and species names.
The bark of young branches is striped green and white, linking it to the group of “snake-bark maples” that share this distinctive bark pattern. In autumn the leaves turn attractive shades of red and orange. It is a slender, airy tree with a delicate texture rarely exceeding 8 meters, making it suitable for smaller gardens. It is not widely known outside specialist collections and arboreta but represents a charming and distinctive small maple for shaded garden positions.
Pere David’s Maple (Acer davidii)
Pere David’s maple is one of the finest and most variable of the snake-bark maples — a group of Asian maples characterized by green bark strikingly streaked with silver-white vertical lines, resembling the patterned skin of a snake. Native to central and western China, it was introduced to Western gardens by the French missionary and naturalist Père Armand David and later by the plant hunter Ernest Wilson.
The bark is its primary ornamental feature, most vivid on young stems and branches and providing remarkable winter interest. The leaves vary considerably between different clones — some are unlobed and ovate, others have prominent side lobes — and autumn color ranges from yellow to orange and red. Several named clones are in cultivation, of which ‘George Forrest’ and ‘Serpentine’ are among the most widely grown and reliable. It reaches 8 to 15 meters and thrives in cool, moist, humus-rich woodland conditions with shelter from harsh winds.
Hers’s Maple (Acer hersii, now considered part of Acer grosseri)
Hers’s maple is a Chinese snake-bark maple closely related to and now often included within Acer grosseri, native to the mountain forests of central and northern China. Like other snake-bark maples, it is grown primarily for its ornamental bark — green with pronounced white striations — but it also produces attractive lobed leaves that turn orange and red in autumn and a good crop of pendulous winged samaras. It grows as a small to medium tree, typically 8 to 12 meters, with a graceful, spreading habit.
The snake-bark maples as a group represent one of the most horticulturally refined collections within the maple genus, and Acer hersii is considered one of the best for the combination of bark, autumn color, and overall garden presence. It performs best in cool, sheltered woodland garden conditions with deep, moist, well-drained soil and protection from late spring frosts that can damage emerging leaves.
Red Snake-bark Maple (Acer capillipes)
The red snake-bark maple is a Japanese species considered by many maple enthusiasts to be the finest of all the snake-bark maples, combining outstanding bark, emerging leaf color, and autumn display in a single small tree of exceptional year-round ornamental value. Native to the mountain forests of Honshu, Japan, it produces the classic snake-bark pattern of green bark with white vertical striations, but adds to this coral-red coloring on young shoots — particularly vivid in winter — and emerging leaves suffused with bronze-red in spring.
Mature leaves are three-lobed with a long, tapering central lobe and toothed margins, turning brilliant orange-scarlet in autumn. It is a graceful, spreading small tree reaching 8 to 10 meters, forming a broad, architectural crown. In woodland garden settings, particularly those associated with the Hidcote and Westonbirt traditions of British gardening, it is considered an indispensable specimen tree of the highest quality.
Moosewood (Acer pensylvanicum revisited as distinct from striped maple in some treatments)
While the striped maple and moosewood are the same species (Acer pensylvanicum), the moosewood aspect of this tree deserves focused attention as a distinct ecological and cultural identity. In the Adirondack Mountains, the Green Mountains, and throughout the Appalachian highland forests, moosewood forms a characteristic layer of the cool northern hardwood forest understory, its green-and-white striped trunks creating a distinctive visual texture in the forest interior.
The bark is palatable and nutritious, and moose consumption of the bark and young stems during winter is significant enough to affect stand structure in forests with high moose populations. Indigenous peoples of the northeast used the inner bark medicinally for eye ailments and the wood for arrow shafts. The tree’s role as a nurse plant — providing shade and shelter for seedlings of more shade-intolerant species — is ecologically important in forest succession dynamics across its range.
Cappadocian Maple (Acer cappadocicum)
The Cappadocian maple is a medium to large deciduous tree native to a broad arc from the Caucasus and Turkey east through Iran, Afghanistan, the Himalayas, and into western China, typically growing in mountain forests at moderate to high elevations. It is a handsome, vigorous tree reaching 20 meters or more with a broad, spreading crown. The leaves are five to seven lobed with characteristically pointed lobes and entire (untoothed) margins, turning butter-yellow in autumn in a display that, while less fiery than many maples, is notably consistent and long-lasting.
A distinctive feature of the tree is its tendency to produce suckers from its wide-spreading root system, sometimes forming a ring of young shoots around the base of mature trees. The golden-leafed cultivar ‘Aureum’ — with leaves that emerge rich golden yellow in spring before maturing to yellow-green — is widely planted as an ornamental and is one of the most striking large trees for spring foliage effect in temperate gardens.
Coliseum Maple (Acer cappadocicum subsp. lobelii, or Acer lobelii)
The coliseum maple or Lobel’s maple is a naturally narrow, fastigiate (columnar) deciduous tree native to the forests of southern Italy and the Balkans, sometimes treated as a subspecies of the Cappadocian maple and sometimes as a distinct species. Its naturally upright, columnar growth habit — developing without any pruning or training into a tight, flame-shaped crown — makes it one of the most architecturally useful of all maples for formal landscape design, avenue planting, and situations where a deciduous tree of significant height but limited spread is required.
The leaves resemble those of the Cappadocian maple with five to seven pointed, untoothed lobes and turn yellow in autumn. It is grafted onto rootstocks to preserve its columnar form and is used by landscape architects as a deciduous alternative to the Lombardy poplar, providing a similar vertical accent without the disease susceptibility and shorter lifespan of the poplar.
Further References
- Maple Tree Facts: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple
- Beautiful Species of Maple Trees: https://www.thespruce.com/thirteen-species-of-maple-trees-3269671
- What You Need To Know About Maple Trees: https://www.britannica.com/plant/maple-tree
- Fast Growing Maple Trees: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/grow-herb-garden-indoor-outdoor-13771633.html
- Maple Tree Varieties: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/maple/maple-tree-types.htm