Keyed Out #054 — Acer rubrum

Question 1

The fruit ripens as two one-seeded wings fused at the base, the pair splitting apart to spin as it falls.

Accepted Answer

soapberry family

Question 2

Leaves and buds are set in exact opposing pairs at each {node}, never staggered singly up the shoot.

Accepted Answer

Sapindaceae

Question 3

Each blade is undivided, merely cut into lobes on a single stalk, rather than split to the base into separate leaflets.

Accepted Answer

Acer

Question 4

Flowers crowd the bare wood in dense little clusters set along the sides of last year's twigs, weeks before any leaf expands.

Accepted Answer

Acer

Question 5

The blade is cut into three to five shallow lobes with sharply toothed edges, its notches narrow and stopping well short of the midrib.

Accepted Answer

Acer rubrum

Question 6

Young trunks are smooth and pale grey, ageing into long narrow scaly plates that lift free along one edge.

Accepted Answer

Acer rubrum