Norway Maple

Trees showing the two common foliage colour forms, green and purple.

Acer platanoides

Maple family (Aceraceae)

Origin: Europe & Asia

Description: Up to 30 m, with a short trunk, sparse branches and smooth or shallowly ridged, greyish bark. Twigs tinged with red. Leaves palmately lobed, the lobes with a few teeth. Flowers appearing just before the leaves, males and females in separate clusters, yellowish green or sometimes red, with 5 petals. Fruits 3.5-5 cm, paired, the wings of each pair horizontal or forming a wide angle.

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  Leaves have lobes with few teeth.

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  Cluster of male flowers.

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  Male flowers with emerging leaves. This tree is one of the red-foliaged forms.

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  Fruits have wings forming an angle of 180 degrees, or nearly so.

There are several different purple forms of this tree, differing mainly in the intensity of the colour of the foliage. The most common is a rather murky purple.

Comments: Cultivars with foliage tinged dark red or purple are frequently planted and may be more common than the typical variety in some areas.

Similar trees:

• Sycamore
• Cappadocian maple
• London Plane has similar shaped leaves but is distinguished by the flaking bark, and very different flowers and fruits.