Maple Trees

trees · autumn colors · maple syrup · Asia

Hand-shaped leaves. Maple leaves look like open hands with five to nine pointy fingers. These palmate leaves are so easy to spot that you can identify a maple tree just by looking at its leaves.

Spinning seed helicopters. All maple trees make distinctive winged fruits that spin and twirl through the air like tiny helicopters as they fall. This clever design helps spread the seeds far and wide on the wind.

Mostly Asian trees. Out of about 132 different maple species in the world, most live in East Asia. Only one maple species, called Acer laurinum, grows in the Southern Hemisphere, making maples pretty rare down there.

Syrup from sap. Some maple species produce sweet sap that people boil down to make delicious maple syrup. This thick, golden sweetener comes from inside the tree's trunk and is one of nature's best treats.

Fall color champions. Maple trees are famous for their stunning autumn colors, turning brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows before their leaves fall. Many people plant maples in gardens just to enjoy this incredible seasonal show.