Acer rubrum

Acer rubrum
Name	Red maple
Genus	Acer
Species	rubrum
Authority	L.

Acer rubrum

Acer rubrum is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America notable for its red flowers, petioles, twigs, and fall foliage. Widely planted and culturally prominent, it appears in literary, horticultural, and ecological discussions across the United States and Canada. The species features in forest management, urban planting, and conservation policy debates.

Description

Acer rubrum presents as a medium to large tree with a broadly oval to rounded crown; mature specimens can be compared to specimens described in works on John James Audubon, Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux, Charles Darwin, and Alexander von Humboldt for their prominence in landscape accounts. Leaves are typically three-lobed to five-lobed and reminiscent of leaves illustrated in plates accompanying publications by Linnaeus, Carl Linnaeus, Joseph Banks, James Edward Smith, and Edward James; the petioles and young twigs often show red pigmentation noted in botanical monographs from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The New York Botanical Garden, and Missouri Botanical Garden. Flowers emerge before or with the leaves in spring and have been documented in phenology studies by institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, United States Forest Service, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Harvard University Herbaria, and Cornell University. Fruit are paired samaras that disperse by wind, described in dendrology texts used at Yale University, University of Michigan, University of Toronto, and Ohio State University. Bark texture varies with age and has been included in manuals published by United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Canada, American Forests, and Society of American Foresters.

Distribution and habitat

Acer rubrum occurs across varied landscapes with ranges discussed in regional floras from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Florida, Texas, and Minnesota; distribution maps appear in reports by USDA Forest Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Park Service, Parks Canada, and state natural heritage programs such as Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Habitats include wetlands, floodplains, upland mixed forests, urban parks, and abandoned fields noted in management plans for Everglades National Park, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Adirondack Park, and Shenandoah National Park. Soil tolerances and hydrologic associations have been examined in studies from Duke University, University of Georgia, Michigan State University, Iowa State University, and Pennsylvania State University. Climate and range shifts are addressed in assessments by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environment Canada, United States Geological Survey, and regional climate centers such as Northeast Regional Climate Center.

Ecology and interactions

Acer rubrum participates in complex ecological networks involving herbivores, pathogens, pollinators, and mycorrhizae described in literature from Ecological Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution, Society for Conservation Biology, and Botanical Society of America. It provides browse and cover for mammals such as species monitored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Canadian Wildlife Service, National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Wildlife Conservation Society. Insect interactions include leaf herbivores, gall makers, and sap feeders recorded in catalogs by Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and entomological surveys by University of Florida IFAS Extension. Fungal associations, including rusts and canker pathogens, are reported in bulletins from American Phytopathological Society, Forest Health Protection, Canadian Phytopathological Society, International Mycological Association, and European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. Seed dispersal and regeneration dynamics are covered in studies from Yale School of the Environment, University of British Columbia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Virginia Tech, and Rutgers University.

Cultivation and uses

Acer rubrum is widely cultivated in urban and suburban landscapes and featured in municipal planting guides produced by City of New York, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation, Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, Los Angeles County Arboretum, and Royal Botanical Gardens (Burlington). It is valued for timber, syrup, and ornamental use described in extension publications by Penn State Extension, University of Vermont Extension, Cornell Cooperative Extension, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Michigan State University Extension. Horticultural selections and cultivars have been developed by breeders associated with Arnold Arboretum, Royal Horticultural Society, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, International Dendrology Society, and commercial nurseries in Ontario Nursery Association and AmericanHort. Cultural references and landscaping examples appear in works about Central Park (New York), Biltmore Estate, Mount Vernon, Longwood Gardens, and Versailles Gardens (France) where maples are discussed. Urban forestry programs documenting Acer rubrum performance feature reports from Urban Forestry South, Tree City USA, Arbor Day Foundation, International Society of Arboriculture, and National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council.

Taxonomy and genetics

Taxonomic treatments of Acer rubrum are found in floras and monographs produced by Linnaean Society of London, Flora of North America, Gray Herbarium, New Flora of North America, and regional checklists from Missouri Botanical Garden. Genetic and genomic studies have been conducted by research groups at University of Georgia, North Carolina State University, University of British Columbia, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Broad Institute and reported at conferences such as Botany Conference and Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Population genetics, hybridization with congeners, and provenance variation are topics in dissertations from Cornell University, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Minnesota, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Herbarium specimens reside at Kew Gardens Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden Herbarium, Harvard University Herbaria, Smithsonian Institution, and Canadian Museum of Nature.

Conservation and threats

Conservation assessments and monitoring involving Acer rubrum appear in reports by IUCN, NatureServe, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), U.S. Endangered Species Act listings analyses, and regional conservation plans from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Threats include land-use change, invasive species documented by Invasive Species Specialist Group, Global Invasive Species Database, National Invasive Species Council, The Nature Conservancy, and impacts from climate variability addressed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and National Climate Assessment. Management recommendations appear in guidance from USDA Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and conservation NGOs including World Wide Fund for Nature and Conservation International.

Category:Flora of North America