Leaf close-upAcer palmatum
Japanese maple
Key ID: Opposite, deeply 5–7 lobed hand-shaped green leaves; smooth gray-green bark; slender red-tinged twigs.
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Pick a group to see similar plants side by side. New maples are added here automatically.
How to tell them apart: All maples have opposite leaves and paired winged seeds (samaras). Compare lobe count, lobe depth, leaf edges (smooth vs toothed), sap (milky in Norway maple petioles), bark and bud color.
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Leaf close-up
Leaf close-upAcer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’
Bloodgood Japanese maple
Key ID: Leaves stay deep burgundy-red all summer (most red cultivars fade to green).
Leaf close-upAcer palmatum ‘Dissectum’
Lace leaf Japanese maple
Key ID: Leaves finely cut into thread-like lace; low weeping, mounding shrub form.
Leaf close-upAcer saccharum
Sugar maple
Key ID: Leaf sinuses rounded (U-shaped), lobes without many teeth; sharp-pointed brown buds; no milky sap.
Leaf close-upAcer circinatum
Vine maple
Key ID: Leaves round with 7–9 shallow lobes; sprawling, vine-like multi-stem habit.
Leaf close-upAcer macrophyllum
Bigleaf maple
Key ID: Largest maple leaves (often 12"+); milky sap from the leaf stalk; moss-covered bark.
Leaf close-upAcer saccharum ‘Monumentale’
Monumental Sugar Maple
Key ID: Very narrow, columnar form of sugar maple.
Leaf close-upAcer griseum
Paperbark maple
Key ID: Cinnamon-red bark peels in thin papery curls; trifoliate (3-leaflet) leaves.
Leaf close-upAcer rubrum
Red/Scarlet maple
Key ID: Red buds, red flowers in early spring, red leaf stalks and red fall color; leaf sinuses V-shaped.
Leaf close-upAcer capillipes
Capillipes maple
Key ID: Snakebark maple: green bark striped with white; red young stems and leaf stalks.
Leaf close-upAcer negundo
Box elder
Key ID: Only maple with pinnately compound leaves (3–5 leaflets); green twigs often with a white bloom.
Leaf close-upAcer platanoides
Norway maple
Key ID: Broken leaf stalk oozes milky white sap; samaras spread nearly flat (wide angle); 5-lobed leaves wider than long.
Leaf close-upAcer platanoides ‘Crimson King’
Crimson King Norway maple
Key ID: Norway maple leaf shape (milky sap) but deep maroon-purple all season; yellow flowers contrast against purple new leaves.
Leaf close-upAcer rufinerve
Redvein maple
Key ID: Snakebark maple: 3-lobed leaves with rusty-red hairs along the veins underneath; green & white striped bark.
LeafAcer saccharinum
Silver maple
Key ID: Very deeply cut 5-lobed leaves with silvery-white undersides; clustered round red flower buds; shaggy peeling bark on old trunks.