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This article is a three-part piece on Red Maples.
The Red Maple, Acer rubrum, in our side yard gives me great pleasure and comfort in all seasons. Being about two feet in diameter at four feet from the ground, it’s not the largest Red Maple I have ever seen, but it has grand size and, in summer, provides splendid shade. This maple seems full of life, yet the living cells that make up the bulk of any tree this size, are only about one percent.
These living cells are a fringe of life for my maple tree, 'fhey are strategically located located in the tips of the roots to absorb water; in a thin sheath under the bark to keep food moving through the system and to enlarge the trunk; at the tips of twigs to keep them elongating; and in the leaves. There they work as sun motors, creating food from oxygen and chlorophyll. These leaves keep the tree in operation. Most od my maple is made up of dead cells; a mechanical structure supporting the living cells.
A Norway Maple grows close to my Red Maple; so close that the crown of the native piaple is a bit lop-sided. In late July the introduced maple began shedding green leaves. This was a reaction to the drought; an attempt by the tree to relieve itself of sunmotors that were using too much pre. cious water in their food making.
Each leaf sends an invisi. tie spray of water out into the air. That is why it is cool under ' a tree in the intense heat of a Virginia summer. As far as I could see, my Red Maple shed ' no green summer leaves. Being a part of Virginia forests for millions of years has enabled the Red Maple to evolve so that severe draughts can be tolerated.
This Norway Maple also provides good shade and is a handsome specimen, larger than my Red Maple. No doubt
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