Norway Maple

 Acer platanoides

Identification Information

Date: Sunday, June 13, 2021

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Location:  Hunsicker’s Grove (9350 Longswamp Road, Mertztown, PA 19539)

Habitat:  Temperate Mixed Forest, dominated by Hickory-Oak

Weather conditions:  75 degrees Fahrenheit, slightly humid, cloudy skies

This maple tree was in a small but dense grove growing in the middle of a looped trail.  It's trunk was barely six inches in diameter.  The bark on the trunk had thin, fairly even ridges.  The entire tree was probably 10 feet tall... a teenager.  :)

It was difficult to exclude Sugar Maple as the identification of this plant.  Both have very similar leaves--about 4 inches wide with five lobes.  The three center lobes each have 3 teeth.  Sugar Maples are native to the area, and it seems as though Norway Maples are their foreign doppelgangers.  These trees were imported as a shade tree and have established themselves throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania quite well.  The identifying characteristic is the angle, from base to tip, of the middle lobes.  Sugar Maples have a wider tip.  Norway Maples have a wider base.  (Brockman, 1986, pp. 210 and 216)

Norway maple vs sugar maple: Identification. (n.d.). Bplant.org. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from 

     https://bplant.org/compare/68-93