Acer rubrum L.

vernacular red maple — species · Aceraceae

USDA: ACRU
GBIF: 3189883
Rank: species

red maple (Acer rubrum) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Aceraceae Juss.
Genus: Acer

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 5 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 5 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: High
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: Low

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -47 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 80 min.
Precipitation: 25–80 in/yr
pH range: 4.7–7.3
Root depth: 30 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 68 ft
Height @ 20 y: 35 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Red
Fruit colour: Red
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: Slight

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Spring
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Spring
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 22,720
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 5 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ACRU ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3189883 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z