North Carolina Wildflowers, Shrubs, & Trees

Aceraceae > Acer (maple)

Common and found in rich woods in the mountains in NC, the flower clusters are found in the spring and are normally pendant but are often seen wind-blown to the tops of the leaves.

Developing fruits (samaras).

Striped Maple is named for the vertical stripes on its bark.

This maple hosted what appeared to be some very ornate-looking scale insects being tended by ants!

Common across NC, Red Maple is found in a many different habitats. Shown here are the fruits, which are the familiar "helicopter" seeds known to nearly everyone.

Red Maple is one of the first trees to flower in the late winter/early spring.

Red Maple in flower.

Root suckers and saplings are often scarlet in color even before autumn.

Uncommon to rare in the piedmont and mountains of NC, Chalk Maple usually grows on high pH soils.

Leaves resemble Florida Maple (Acer barbatum = A. floridanum) with rounded sinuses and often odd shapes, but Chalk Maple leaves are somewhat fuzzny and yellow-green underneath whereas Florida Maple leaves are whitish underneath.

Common in the NC mountains, this is the classic source of maple syrup. Note the rounded sinuses between the leaf lobes.

Uncommon in NC and found at high elevations, Mountain Maple has erect spikes of flower.

Leaves are coarsely toothed and shallowly lobed.

Distinguishing them from Striped Maple, Mountain Maple leaves are rougher with the secondary and tertiary veins strongly protruding from the under leaf surface. Mountain Maples have a whitish pubescence below.