Quote from jimjsolo:

Actually the maple leaf raises a question I have about the maple trees in the Q. Mostly they seem more like bushes than trees. Is it just the limit of their range or are they different? I've seen very few at even a modest height.


Been to woodland caribou but not the quetico....the pict is definitely Acer rubrum....red maple....is at northern end of range there is also Acer spicatum-mountain maple-similar leaf -if I had a scanner I would plagerize and send copy of leaves from Dirr's Woody Plant manual. Google. Both are going to be smaller statued trees unlesss they are in a very happy spot....Mountain maple I have expereinced on the north shoreof lake superior is typically growing in a clump of sorts like Amur Maple,, Acer ginnala- a non native asian landscape plant, and is considered more of a sub tree or understory tree. Red Maple is a a very popular shade tree in the US due to the fall color , like in starwatchers pict everyone digs red. Personally I have yet to see a high quality selection of red maple but that is another topic...I believe the are better left to the north woods than the city, I have to admitt been enjoying the beautiful flowers again this spring-for that is how the tree,I believe, got its name-Acer rubrum.....red maple. They also prefer lower areas as the like water-very closely allied to silver maple-Acer saccharinum-which is the common riparian tree-there are actually hybrids between the two...the grex is known as Acer freemanii.....So that is the scoop.....northern edge of range, dry conditions .....a young stresssed out tree that is also most  likily why stargazer got that shot of the amazingly saturated fall colored leaf.....right place right time!  Good shots stargazer

Thanks for the maple information marlin!  Very informative.  The red maples really stand out during late September when they are the first to turn color.  I think I found the last remaining leaves on our late October trip.

I always liked the small-sized Moose or Mountain Maple from the BWCA and really like the bright orange color they turn in the Fall.  We also saw them in the mountains of Virginia where we lived out East.

I was wondering about the difference between the Red Maple and the Sugar Maple (acer saccharum) that's the emblem on the Canadian flag, that has a similar range up through the area and I'm curious about the variety the Ojibwa in MN depended on the sap for maple syrup.  I know that in Duluth and the up farther north along the Laurention Divide Ridge we get spectular red colors in the fall.  I assume red maple, or maybe both, but I'm not sure.  Any thoughts?  May be I need to start a new thread.  

starwatcher

solo quote:Marlin, Thanks for the maple info. Here's one about as big as I've found. Straight across from the portage landing on BH for BH/Q.


Looks like a rubrum to me. I have seen them just a bit bigger in the BW, at least in the area that i have been and they are really show stoppers in the fall. For years I have been meaning to catch the early show of flowers as i think that that is more impressive. They are flowering now in the metro are of Mpls.

thebutcher quote:as a botanist I appreciate your descriptions of what we are viewing. Dirr, although quite the character in person, does have the "bible" of references in the woody plants manual. One thing I would disagree with you on though is the lack of quality rubrum selections. I believe there are quite a few - especially burgundy belle, A. rubrum 'magnificent magenta'  is quite nice in my opinion. are you familiar with that one?

Dirr is a character, a well connected one at that Many many years with plants....woodies....a child of Raulston to whom we own tons...the same does to Dirr especially if you are of the southern type. Disagreement is healthy and good. I say let them prove themselves. I have seen Northwoods come and go, October glory come and go, Autumn Blaze is junk....all in search of the fall color....what about heat tolerance, branching angle, sun scauld, leaf spot.....? I watch and I observe the plant material....check out the display gardens year after year and for God's sake dont trust everything that a salesman tells yah they're salesman and time will always tell the truth that is what I think, or what i have learned....think about the flower carpet rose series....trash think about about the new scandinavian rhodes...trash......I can go on and on....well maybe trash is a little harsh and I should really give credit where credit is due....as humans we all want...usually what we have not got and G. Jekyll said something to the effect always place the right plant for the spot...dont make the spot suit the plant....how many of us have the spot in our backyards for a red maple----I do love them so thou especially in the canoe country. Alemanchier, Carpinus caroliana-been selecting the reds out in the fall every chance I get-might be container culture , Quercus alba or rubra(beware of oak wilt ), or Acer saccharum if you are confident with the genetics and the verticillium factor are safer bets I think. But i have been watching the cultivars that you spoke off in the trials, and my verdict is still in process . The breeders tried sorting out the heat and soils thing with the fremanii grex...again hit or miss I will let you be the judge. I know we will get to the spot someday with the reds but what will it be an emerald ash bore equivalent, or a new race of verticillium, or maybe a vascular disease like phloem necrosis/dutch elm disease in elm, or even something like chestnut blight ...ponder just how long the oaks, sugar maples, and basswood have been here in there upland environment.....I think that is just another thing, a pretty thing, that makes the canoe country an amazing place....the more one looks the more amazing it becomes and I know i am very lucky to be able to experience and soak up the things there that only can trully exist there. Its kinda like planting a black ash in a boulevard.....just cant quite get my mind around it....maybe its just me

Thanks for the Maple info.  I hadn't paid much attention until now, but the maple leaves in my POD
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) is from the same campsite on Thursday Bay and obviously a different variety of Maple.  Silver?

The reference I really enjoy is John Eastman, Forest and Thicket, because he decribes all the lore associated with the plants.

starwatcher