Scientific Name
Acer platanoides
A native of continental Europe, Norway maple and its cultivars — especially red- or purple-leaf types like ‘Crimson King’ — have enjoyed wide success in the U.S. as street trees. They are very tolerant of poor soil, heat and pollution and develop a symmetrical, rounded crown typically about 55 feet in height (the tallest one in Colorado currently is only slightly taller). Because of their shallow root system and the dense shade they cast, growing grass or gardening beneath them can be a challenge. The seeds, which ripen in the fall, have wide-spreading, almost horizontal wings.
An underappreciated feature of this tree is its profuse spring display of yellow-green flowers before the leaves emerge; many people mistake this display for tiny new leaves. One of the interesting things about the foliage is that plucking a leaf will cause a white sticky latex to exude from the stem, a helpful clue for species identification.
Although Norway maple has fewer problems than silver maple, it is still considered overplanted by many horticulturists. There is now more emphasis on planting other maple species, many of which have superior fall color compared with Norway maple, whose leaves turn yellow somewhat unreliably. The tree is extremely adaptable to nearly every environmental challenge in urban areas. This adaptability has led to Norway maple becoming invasive in more humid climates, but so far this has not posed a problem in our semi-arid region.