This native tree is common throughout the Northeast. What is it?
Answer
Acer rubrum. The good old red maple.
As any frustrated beginning naturalist can tell you, tree bark doesn’t always match the pictures in the field guides. Red maples are an especially good example of this. The very shaggy bark on this tree may have been caused by poor site conditions – it was growing on acidic soil and shallow bedrock. While a tree grows a variable amount of wood each year, it always grows the same amount of bark. Thus tree bark on a slow-growing tree can seem untamed when compared to the smooth bark on a vigorous tree.
The good thing about IDing red maples is that the clustered red buds in their crown make them easy to identify, even in winter. Those who guessed that this tree was a shagbark hickory would have, no doubt, changed their guess if they’d been able to look up.
This week’s contest winner was Si Balch of Wilton, Maine