Summary ⁶

Acer rubrum, the red maple, also known as swamp, water or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest service recognizes it as the most abundant native tree in eastern North America. It can be found from southeastern Manitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to Florida, and southwest to eastern Texas.

Red maple is far more abundant today than when Europeans first arrived in North America. It only contributed minimally to old-growth upland forests, and would only form same-species stands in riparian zones.[8] The density of the tree in many of these areas has increased six- to seven-fold, and this trend seems to be continuing, all of which is due to human factors, mainly loss of forest management by Native Americans who managed the forests to enhance acorn production and oak tree growth.[16] This loss of management has been further enhanced by continued heavy logging and a recent trend of young, shrubby forests recovering from past human disturbances. Also, the decline of American elm and American chestnut due to introduced diseases has contributed to its spread. Red maple dominates such sites, but largely disappears until it only has a sparse presence by the time a forest is mature. This species is in fact a vital part of forest regeneration in the same way that paper birch is.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) tpollard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/277850626
2. (c) Ed Hass, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Ed Hass
3. (c) Stephen Seiberling, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/smseiberling/4058335617/
4. (c) Dcrjsr, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acer_rubrum_seed_keys.jpg
5. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://eol.org/media/8735289
6. Adapted by Tom Pollard from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_rubrum

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