Red Maple, Acer rubrum
Red Maple is known in the lumber industry as soft maple. The wood is close grained and resembles Sugar Maple, but is softer in texture, lacks figure, and has somewhat poorer machining qualities. Brilliant fall coloring is one of the outstanding features of Red Maple. In the northern forest, its bright red foliage is a striking contrast against the dark green conifers and the white bark and yellow foliage of the Paper Birches. Red Maple is widely used as a landscape tree.