The fast-growing Norway Maple is one of America's most popular, widely planted street trees, although this naturalized tree comes from Europe, where it grows from Norway to Switzerland. It retains its leaves longer than native maples, and its dense crown provides heavy shade. The species name means "like Plantanus," to indicate the similarity of its leaves to Sycamore and Planetree, to which it is not related.
Very few towns or cities don't have many of these hardy trees, which are rather free from disease and insect attacks. It grows well in a variety of soils, even in nutrient-poor, compacted soils in cities. It endures the smoke, dust, air pollution, and drought of the city better than native maples.
Many varieties have been selected or developed for their shape, leaf form, color, or suitability to urban environments. Best known are Crimson King and Summershade.
Size: fast growing, 40 to 70 feet, up to 100 feet, with a dense, rounded crown; trunk 1 to 2 foot diameter
Range: hardy, naturalized street tree, escaping along roadsides in humid temperate regions, tolerant of salt spray in seashore gardens
Habitat: native across Europe and western Asia, from Norway to Caucusus and north Turkey, wide range of soil types, widely planted in U.S.
Leaves: simple, opposite, deciduous, dull dark green with sunken veins above, paler and hairless below, 5 (sometimes 7) palmate lobes and main veins, 3 to 7 inches long, 4 to 7 inches wide, resembling Sugar Maple and Black Maple, but deeper green, thicker, firmer, turning bright yellow in autumn
Leafstalks: long, slender, distinguished by milky sap secreted by leaf stalks when twisted or pressed
Flowers: emerge in early spring (March-April), yellowish-green, arranged in clusters along twigs, bisexual or male, produced in few to many-flowered, erect, branched clusters
Fruit: large, dry, hanging, 2-winged, 1 to 2 inches long, with wide-spreading, elliptical wings (almost 180 degrees), matures in late summer, may hang on tree for months
Bark: gray or brown, becoming rough and furrowed into narrow ridges
Twigs: brown, hairless
Buds: single, large (over 3/16 inch), hairless, green or reddish, blunt-pointed, and glossy
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Similar Species: Sycamore Maple, Ashleaf Maple
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