Norway Maple

Acer platanoides

Aceraceae (Maple Family)

▲ tree growing in Oslo, Norway

▲ leaves

▲▼ fruit

▲ large, oval terminal bud

▲ gray-black, furrowed bark on mature trees

▲▼ flowers are moderately showy

▲ tree in flower in spring, before leaves emerge

▲▼dark-red or purple-leaved cultivars

▲ leaves on dark-red or purple-leaved cultivar

▲▼ variegated-leaf cultivar

Location on Missouri State University campus:  east of Karls Hall and south of Hill hall (green-leaved form); east of Plaster Student Union (purple-leaved form)

Acer platanoides:  Norway Maple

• Leaves deciduous, simple, opposite, palmately 3-5 lobed
• Leaves dark green or red-green to reddish-purple in color, depending on the cultivar; glabrous
• Petiole produces milky sap when broken
• Fall color is yellow or non-existent
• Stems stout, glabrous, olive-brown in color with lenticels; leaf scars meet to form a sharp angle; older stems gray-brow; pith is solid white
• Bark is dark-gray to black, with ridges and shallow furrows
• Prefers full sun to part shade and organic, well-drained soils; tolerates hot, dry and compacted soils
• Grows 40-50’ tall and 2/3 to equal width with rounded, symmetrical crown
• Medium growth rate; red-foliaged trees usually not as vigorous as green-foliaged trees
• Is becoming invasive in northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada—can replace native sugar and black maples in maple forests, reducing maple syrup production
• Is one of the “hard maples,” along with sugar and black maples (based on wood strength)
• Similar to Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple)— except Norway maple has more furrowed bark,milky sap if petiole is crushed and terminal buds are egg-shaped or rounded; Sugar maple has more platey bark and clear sap and very pointed terminal buds on twigs