Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Rocky Mountain Maple
Acer glabrum
Maple family (Sapindaceae)

Rocky Mountain Maple leaves often have bright red swellings which are (abnormal growths), caused, in this case, by the Eriophid Mite. Acer glabrum is also known as "Rock Maple" in reference to the hardness and density of its wood. Its leaves turn red or yellow in autumn. Its wood makes for a good fuel, but the trees are too small for broad commercial uses. "Acer" is the ancient Latin name for Maples.


© Ernie Marx

Description

, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, 6-20' tall, with leaves that are into 3-5 segments (sometimes cut all the way to the mid-rib) with pointed ends. Leaves are about as long as broad, doubly , and paler on underside. Twigs are red-brown and rounded in section. Branches are , to erect. Green-yellow flowers are loose drooping arising from buds. is double- , typical of the Maple Family. Bark is thin and smooth in young trees, developing fissures as trees mature.

Field Marks

Often multi-stemmed tree with maple-shaped leaf and double- .

© Al Schneider

lateral -- attached to the side of an organ, for instance leaves or branches on a stem.

cross -- To make something interbreed. The act of hybridization.

ascending -- growing obliquely upward and usually curved.

Deciduous plants are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

cyme -- Multiple flower stalks emerge from a single point and the flowers at the end bloom first.

gall -- An abnormal bulbous formation on plant leaves or stems.

samara -- A winged seed as in Box Elders, Maples, Elms, etc.

wing -- A maple seed has wings.

palmately lobed -- with lobes spread radially from a point.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.