Identify Common Trees in Vermont

Let's look at maples

We Vermonters love our maples. Sugar and red maple are two of the most common trees in our forests and learning just a couple key characteristics can help you tell them apart.

We’ll look at leaves, buds, and bark so you will be able to distinguish them in all seasons. We’ll also check out striped maple — a very unique maple tree.

Red maple leaf

Red maples are really red! Their buds, flowers, leaf stalks, and fall colors are all reddish. They are also one of the first trees to turn color in autumn.

While red maples and sugar maples have very similar leaves, to tell the difference, pay attention to the margins of the leaf. There are teeth along the edge of a red maple leaf (see photo).

Sugar maple leaves

Compared to red maple, sugar maple leaves have smooth edges.  You can also distinguish sugar maple leaves from red maples by looking at the dips between the lobes.  Those on a sugar maple are u-shaped, while dips between the lobes of the red maple are pointy and more v-shaped.

What about striped maple?

Striped maple is a slow-growing tree that rarely gets over 20 or 30 feet tall. It’s often found growing as a shrub. In this image you can compare striped maple (yellow leaves) with red maple (red leaves).

Although striped maple leaves have toothed leaf edges like red maples, striped maple leaves have three lobes that are shallow; some say they are shaped like a goose’s foot.

Another way to tell the difference between these and other maples is the size of the leaves – they are large and can be up to six inches.

Now let's look at buds

One way to tell the difference between sugar maples and red maples to to look at their buds in early spring — this is handy when there are no leaves yet.

The buds on a sugar maples are pointed and brown (left) while red maple buds are round and (easy to remember) red! Red maples are also one of the earliest trees to flower in spring.

Striped Maple

While the bark of a stiped maple is the real giveaway, we thought it would be helpful to show a striped maple bud for comparison to other maples. The smoothness of these buds distinguishes them the most. They are  long, pointed, and red, and many animals find them delicious!

How to use bark to identify maples in winter

This is where it gets hard.

Bark on young, fast growing trees is smooth and gray, but the texture of older trees is rougher. As the trees age, the bark breaks up into strips, called plates.

Sugar maple plates are much thicker and sturdier than red maple places, which are narrow and long and sometimes have a circular pattern.

This photo shows young sugar maple bark on left and old sugar maple bark on right.

Red maple bark

Here are two examples of red maple bark. You can see how much the trees change as they age.

Compared to the older maple above, you can also see a distinct pattern in the plating of the bark on the red maple.

Striped maple bark is easy to identify

Striped maple is a truly unique tree. It is one of the only trees that can photosynthesize using its green-striped, green bark.