![]() ![]() If you know of a super sized red maple larger than these two, go to the Big Tree website to lean how to nominate it for measuring. The runner-up according the NH Big Tree records, is 99 feet tall and 131 inches around and in good shape. The biggest New Hampshire red maple is 71 feet tall and has a trunk 216 inches around, but it's in poor condition. Instead, it is used for pulp, and pallets, framing in upholstered furniture, fuel and canoe paddles. Boards cut from red maples aren't evenly colored but streaked, and not desirable for cabinetry or furniture. The heartwood in the very center of the trunk is dark. It isn't prized for its wood, probably another reason it's so common. It produces sap in the spring but only a third as strong as sap from sugar maple trees. Red maple grows just about everywhere because it tolerates both compacted, poor and thin soils of mountainsides as well as saturated, soggy soils of swamps and low areas. Because it sprouts so readily from stumps it is often see growing in clumps in hedgerows or long stonewalls, or as a multiple stemmed trees. Three reasons for its survival success are prolific seed production with seeds that sprout in either sun or shade, its ability to sprout from stumps, and its ability to sprout from roots. Jon Nute, Hillsborough County UNH Cooperative Extension educator, notes that only white pine is more common than red maple in New Hampshire, and red maple is increasing. Sugar maples have a curved 'U' shape between the lobes of its broader leaf. ![]() To distinguish a red maple leaf from sugar maple leaves, look for a sharp 'V' between the three lobes of the leaf. Opposite branching is another clue for identifying all maples look for twigs exactly opposite one another along the branches. Red maple is easy to identify from its many red parts red flowers, buds and twigs, reddish stems on the leaves, and of course the brilliant red fall color. Both male and female flowers are found on different tree branches of the same tree the red flowers are the female flowers while the male flowers are red-yellow. Not only does its brilliant red fall color contribute to New Hampshire's fabulous autumn color spectacular, its blossoms tinge the spring woods with a reddish glow of early color. Red maple, sometimes called swamp maple, is the most common hardwood tree in New Hampshire, and one of the most colorful. Native red maple trees burst into flower in April, gloriously announcing the arrival of spring with their fluffy red blossoms high in the treetops. ![]()
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