Class: Angiospermopsida
Origin: Sapindales
Family: Aceraceae
This fall when looking up to see the tall white cross in the center of the lawn there will be a brilliant color towering above it, perhaps described as a “Red Sunset,” “October Glory,” or “Autumn Flame.” These are all names for the vibrant Red Maple tree that stands tall next to the cross. This tree is perfect for finding some shade to read a book, or just to gaze up and marvel at the red, yellow and orange leaves. It can grow to be somewhere between 60 and 90 feet tall and has a trunk about 30 inches in diameter. The bark is scaly and gray as the tree matures. The leaves contain three pointed lobes, with shallow v-shapes in between, but they might be hard to reach seeing as the branches are often 20-30 feet up on the trunk. This characteristic is what makes the red maple such a great place to find some shade. The red maple has perhaps the greatest north-south range of any tree within eastern forests. The red maple can be found to the north in Newfoundland and then all the way down in southern Florida. On the way down the red maple found even found a privileged home in the small state of Rhode Island where they named it the state tree.
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