The tips of the points on Norway maple leaves reduce to a fine 'hair', while the tips of the points on sugar maple leaves are, on close inspection, rounded.

The sugar maple is easy to differentiate by clear sap in the petiole (leaf stem) Norway maple petioles have white sap. It is also frequently confused with the more distantly related Acer saccharum (sugar maple). From the field maple, the Norway maple is distinguished by its larger leaves with pointed, not blunt, lobes, and from the other species by the presence of one or more teeth on all of the lobes. Other related species in this section include Acer campestre (field maple), Acer cappadocicum (Cappadocian maple), Acer lobelii (Lobel's maple), and Acer truncatum (Shandong maple). The Norway maple is a member (and is the type species) of the section Platanoidea Pax, characterised by flattened, disc-shaped seeds and the shoots and leaves containing milky sap. Ĭlassification and identification Tree in flower Bark Norway maples often cause significant damage and cleanup costs for municipalities and homeowners when branches break off in storms as it does not have strong wood. In addition, their roots tend to be quite shallow and thereby they easily out-compete nearby plants for nutrient uptake. Especially when used on streets, it can have insufficient space for its root network and is prone to the roots wrapping around themselves, girdling and killing the tree. Under ideal conditions in its native range, Norway maple may live up to 250 years, but often has a much shorter life expectancy in North America, for example, sometimes only 60 years.

It typically produces a large quantity of viable seeds. The wings are 3–5 cm ( 1 + 1⁄ 4–2 in) long, widely spread, approaching a 180° angle. the seeds are disc-shaped, strongly flattened, 10–15 mm ( 3⁄ 8– 5⁄ 8 in) across and 3 mm ( 1⁄ 8 in) thick. The fruit is a double samara with two winged seeds. The flowers are in corymbs of 15–30 together, yellow to yellow-green with five sepals and five petals 3–4 mm ( 1⁄ 8– 3⁄ 16 in) long flowering occurs in early spring before the new leaves emerge. The autumn colour is usually yellow, occasionally orange-red. The leaf petiole is 8–20 cm ( 3 + 1⁄ 4– 7 + 3⁄ 4 in) long, and secretes a milky juice when broken. The leaves are opposite, palmately lobed with five lobes, 7–14 cm ( 2 + 3⁄ 4– 5 + 1⁄ 2 in) long and 8–25 cm ( 3 + 1⁄ 4– 9 + 3⁄ 4 in) across the lobes each bear one to three side teeth, and an otherwise smooth margin. The shoots are green at first, soon becoming pale brown. Unlike many other maples, mature trees do not tend to develop a shaggy bark.

The bark is grey-brown and shallowly grooved. It is a member of the family Sapindaceae.Īcer platanoides is a deciduous tree, growing to 20–30 m (65–100 ft) tall with a trunk up to 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter, and a broad, rounded crown. It was introduced to North America in the mid-1700s as a shade tree. & Sint.Īcer platanoides, commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran.

Crimson norway maple tree