Norway Maple

Norway Maple

Acer platanoides

This is a bit of a confusing maple.  The leaves look a lot like Sugar Maple, but the bark looks like Ash bark.

If available, the samaras look quite a bit different than the sugar maple and are the easiest way to distinguish the two.

Lay people call them seeds or helicopters, but botanists call them samaras.  It's really a specialized type of fruit that has one seed and a blade so that when it falls, it can float somewhat and be blown by the wind away from the tree.

So now you know another bit of botanical trivia!


Ash-like bark

Flowers



Sugar Maple samara - Picture courtesy of Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Note the very different shapes of the samaras.  These pictures can be found on the USDA Plants database.


Norway Maple samara - Picture courtesy of Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Tree trunk