Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum)

I have not yet beheld this species. On page 214 of my small book of "A Guide to Field Identification, Trees of North America" by Frank Brockman from Golden Press, it shows a leaf and flower cluster of this small maple species native to Newfoundland and nearby southeast Canada down New England down the Appalachians to northern Georgia and then around the upper regions of the Great Lakes in cool, moist habitats and on mountain tops. It is similar to the Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum) of nearly the same native range. It can be a larger shrub or smaller tree. The leaves are 2 to 5 inches long and wide, usually 3-lobed, though 5-lobed is occasional, and the leaf margins are more coarsely toothed than the Striped Maple. Its yellow flower clusters borne in late spring are erect racemes with staminate (male) flowers above and pistillate (female) below. The paired samaras have the wings more pointed downward like a C formation. Twigs and buds are covered with fine hair. The thin bark is reddish-brown.

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