RED OR SCARLET MAPLE; SWAMP MAPLE (ACCT TU.
brunt, Linn.). 50 to 120 feet. Spreading, symmetrical tree, with head of slender, erect branches. Bark dark gray, flaky, between fissures, into large scales; limbs pale. Wood hard, close-grained, pale reddish, used for gunstocks, tool-handles, oars, furniture, and woodenware. Excellent fuel. Leaves opposite, simple, 3 to 6 inches long, heart-shaped, with 3 tri angular lobes, doubly saw-toothed, and 2 shallow basal lobes. Surface smooth, bright green, beneath paler, often silvery, downy. Autumn color, scarlet and crimson. Petioles long,
slim, red. Flowers dicecious, moncecious, or polygamous, in March, before leaves, in axillary fascicles; petals, stigmas, and stamens, scarlet; anthers yellow, making staminate flowers orange-colored; pistillate clusters deep red. Fruit fascicled, long-stemmed, swinging keys with wings to 1 inch long, paired, scarlet until ripe in late May; wind-sown. Dist.: Swampy ground and stream borders, Eastern States and lower Canada; west to Wisconsin, western Iowa to Texas.