As me and my friend were walking towards our usual winter phenology spot in the wooded area directly between the George D. Aiken Forestry Science Laboratory and the Burlington Country Club located off of Spear St. I came across a really cool Red maple (Acer rubrum) that I decided to choose for the assignment!
I knew that the Red Maple was not one of it’s lookalikes, the Sugar Maple or Norway Maple because of the coloring of the bud and the upper part of the twig. The bud shape resembled a bud of the maple family, with the terminal bud being slightly larger than the two lateral buds on either side of the terminal bud. But unlike the Sugar and Norway Maple the buds are bright red in color similar to it’s iconic bright red leaves.
I could tell by the bud shape and coloring that it could be a maple. But by looking at the branches of the tree I could see that it had opposite branching, which is a characteristic of the Maple family! Looking closely at the buds of the Red Maple I saw, there was no evidence of flowering yet. According to Walt though, there will most likely be signs of flowering when I come back from break!!
