Table of characters for selected species of Maples of Wisconsin. There is considerable variation among individuals, so be careful to study the characters discussed in class and do not learn to distinguish these species by the general appearance in this table. The fruits for example are not all at the same stage of develoment and the colors shown are not diagnostic.

Species	Leaf		Bud		Fruit
Acer spicatum				Note that the bud has only 2 visible outer scales. All of our other maples have more than 2 outer scales.
Acer platanoides				Bud scales either deep red/purple or green.
Acer saccharum				Bud scales brown
Acer saccharinum				Bud scales red--very similar to A. rubrum.
Acer rubrum				Bud scales red--very similar to A. saccharinum