Happy Arbor Day for those who celebrate the federally-designated day and for those in the numerous states that have designated the last Friday in April as the day to celebrate (and preferably plant) trees. (“Arbor” derives from the Latin word for tree and, of course, tress are among the world’s most important resources.)
However, Maine, the Pine Tree State that contains many trees, has chosen to postpone the event to May for reasons that I’ll probably discuss in my May newspaper column. Nonetheless, let’s now have a small celebration of the attractive red maple tree flower clusters that are appearing.
Red maples (Acer rubrum) can produce all female flowers, all male flowers, and a little of each on a tree, and they all appear in early spring before the trees’ leaves sprout. The female blossoms, such as these shown here, have stigmas extending beyond the petals to catch pollen from the male flowers:
The males have long stamens covered with yellowish pollen, as shown below:
That pollen is transported by the wind to the female stamens and elsewhere as many sensitive eyes and noses are finding out lately. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 25, 2024.)