Acer rubrum red maple

October Glory red maple in front of the Law School. Sairus Patel, 13 Nov 2019

Acer rubrum leaf and samara. From: Howard E. McMinn & Evelyn Maino, An Illustrated Manual of Pacific Coast Trees

Red winter buds, red twigs and branchlets, red flowers in March – minute but visually significant by virtue of their numbers – quickly followed by red samaras, and of course glorious red autumn foliage make Acer rubrum a deservedly honored tree, at least in eastern North America. There, it grows in a breathtakingly wide and varied array of situations ranging from wet and even swampy lowlands (its roots may sit in several feet of water for most of the year) to mountain forests, making it the most common tree in the U.S. and indeed the one most popularly planted along streets. Leaves are 2–7 inches long and three lobed, typically with the faint swelling of two additional lobes at the base.

Eighteen of female selection October Glory, a trade name, were planted in front of the Law School in 2017. They have done well so far, their root zones having access to adequate moisture. Their smooth pale gray trunks prop up a bright green canopy in the cool shade of which students lunch and lounge. The full fiery red and vermilion spendor of their foliage crests in the second half of November (the selection is not particularly aptly named), when other cultivars of red maple are already bare. Their formal arrangement and dramatic placement at the end of the expanse of Canfield Court attract much attention in this season. More examples of this cultivar line Welch Road between 810 and 1000. Older October Glory maples are street trees in the Stanford Research Park on California Avenue, at 777 and at 975 (on the right side, when facing the building). Two red maples are at 1117; they have shed their leaves by the time October Glory is in full color.

Seven or so examples of trade name Red Sunset, regarded as best suited for more northern states, can be seen among the oaks in the sunken areas at the Central Energy Facility. Others of this female selection are at the north entrance and inner courtyard of ChEM-H and Neurosciences; the pair in the protected courtyard hold on to their leaves for longer than the others.

Name derivation: Acer – Latin for maple; rubrum – red (autumn color).