Red maple (Acer rubrum): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Acer rubrum L., maple family
Other names	Scarlet maple, swamp maple, Carolina red maple, Drummond red maple and water maple (Silvics). The Wood Handbook lists soft, water, scarlet, white and swamp maple.
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and in the lower 48 states
Mature size, Silvics	18 to 27 m (60 to 90 ft) tall and 46 to 76 cm (18 to 30 in) in diameter
Lifespan, Silvics	Seldom longer than 150 years; reaches maturity in 70 to 80 years
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	50 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range and sites

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, 1990) calls red maple one of the most abundant and widespread trees in eastern North America. It records a range from southern Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and southern Quebec to southern and southwestern Ontario, extreme southeastern Manitoba and northern Minnesota, south to Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas, and east to Florida. It says the species is absent from the Prairie Peninsula of the Midwest, the coastal prairie of southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, and the swamp prairie of the Florida Everglades.

The handbook says red maple grows from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft) and on sites from dry ridges to peat bogs and swamps. It describes the tree as shade tolerant and a prolific sprouter, and says it ranks high as a shade tree for landscapes. It also says many foresters consider the tree inferior because it is often poorly formed and defective on poor sites, while on good sites it may grow fast with good form for saw logs.

Size, age and the largest on record

Silvics gives the average mature size in the table above and says the largest registered living red maple, near Armada, Michigan, is 38.1 m (125 ft) tall with a trunk circumference at breast height of 4.95 m (16.25 ft). Growth in early life is rapid and slows after the pole stage. Radial growth starts late in the season and is fully complete in 70 to 79 days.

Flowers and fruit

The handbook says red maple is one of the first trees to flower in spring, generally several weeks before the leaf buds open, with small red or rarely yellowish flowers from March to May depending on elevation and latitude. Some trees are entirely male, some entirely female and some bear both. Trees can bear seed at an early age, and 4-year-old trees have produced seed. The fruit is a double samara that ripens from April to June before leaf development is complete. A seed crop occurs almost every year, and Silvics records a good to bumper crop on average once in every 2 years.

Roots

Silvics says red maple roots are primarily horizontal and form in the upper 25 cm (10 in) of soil. After germination a taproot grows until it is 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) long, then turns and grows horizontally. The woody roots may be 25 m (80 ft) long. The handbook adds that seedlings are very tolerant of flooding, though silt and sand layers of 7.6 cm (3 in) or more deposited over the roots can damage them.

Wood

The Forest Products Laboratory's Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) places red maple in the soft maple group with silver maple, boxelder and bigleaf maple. It says the sapwood of soft maple is somewhat lighter than the heartwood and that the wood resembles hard maple but is not as heavy, hard and strong. It lists uses for railroad crossties, boxes, pallets, crates, furniture, veneer, wooden ware and novelties. Silvics adds that in the lumber industry the wood is known as soft maple, and that red maple in the better grades is substituted for hard maple, particularly for furniture.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.49	7,700	700
At 12% moisture content	0.54	13,400	950

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the Forest Service's NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests and diseases the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says red maple is generally very susceptible to defect and that discoloration and decay advance much faster than in sugar maple. It names these causes, by the names it used.

Fungi in the stem. Inonotus glomeratus, Oxyporus populinus and Phellinus igniarius, and cankers from species of Nectria, Eutypella, Hypoxylon, Schizoxylon and Strumella.
Root. Armillaria mellea, which the handbook says can enter through root or butt wounds.
Borers and scales. The gallmaking maple borer, maple callus borer and Columbian timber beetle; the cottony maple scale, maple leaf scale and oystershell scale.
Leaf feeders. The gypsy moth, linden looper, elm spanworm and red maple spanworm. The forest tent caterpillar avoids red maple, the handbook says.
Other. Sapsucker damage, which the handbook says can lead to ringshake and mortality.

The gypsy moth is the same insect as the spongy moth, and agencies list it as regulated. The guide on spongy moth rules by country gives each agency's wording, and reporting a pest in the United States gives the office that takes sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.