Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | Florida maple is a smaller tree than sugar maple, but it has a similar large, dense, round crown. |
| Leaves: | Leaves are simple, opposite, and deciduous. The leaves of the Florida maple are significantly smaller than those of Acer saccharum, and are blue-green in color. They are palmate with 5 lobes. The leaf margins are entire or irregularly toothed at wide intervals. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are slender, shiny, reddish-brown. The pith is white and homogeneous. |
| Bark: | The bark is light gray and smooth, becoming darker, thicker, and more furrowed as the tree matures. |
| Flowers: | This tree can be either dioecious (male and female flowers occur on separate plants) or monoecious (male and female flowers occur on the same plant). Individual flowers are on long, hairy, drooping stalks. |
| Fruit: | The fruit is a reddish-brown double samara, which occurs in clusters on slender stalks. Wings are thin and about 1 inch in length. |
Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List:
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