![]() Red Maple leaves can be distinguished from Striped Maple and Mountain Maple (both of which also have toothed leaf margins) by shape: Red Maple leaves are more deeply lobed than those of the Striped Maple and Mountain Maple. The Sugar Maple, by contrast, has just a few pointed tips on each lobe. However, Red Maple leaves are coarsely toothed. Trees of the Adirondacks: The leaves of Sugar Maple and Red Maple have a similar shape. The canker reportedly can persist for many years without killing its host. Red Maples can become infected by "target canker." This is a fungus which causes the bark to crack in concentric circles, forming bullseye-shaped raised plates that look like a target. The plate-like strips remain fastened in the center, but can occasionally curl outward on one or both ends. On older and larger trees, the vertical cracks form multiple layers of long, vertical plates. It darkens, and eventually vertical cracks develop. As the tree ages, the texture and color of the bark changes. In color, it is usually light ash-gray, almost silver. This means that for Red Maple, as for many other trees, bark is not a particularly useful characteristic to rely on for distinguishing Red Maple from other trees, such as Sugar Maple, which have somewhat similar bark. Like many other trees, the bark of Red Maples changes as the tree matures. Red Maple ( Acer rubrum) on the Barnum Brook Trail (28 July 2012). Trees of the Adirondacks: The bark of the Red Maple is smooth and light gray when the tree is young, becoming furrowed and scaly at maturity. ![]()
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