Native Plants

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Thursday - August 21, 2014

From: Washington, DC
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Trees
Title: Plants associated with Acer rubrum (Red maple)
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

What plants are commonly associated with Acer rubrum in its natural habitat?

ANSWER:

U. S. Forest Service Index of Species Information for Acer rubrum (Red maple) describes it as one of the most widely distributed trees in eastern North America. It ranges from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland westward to Ontario in Canada and south all the way to southern Texas and eastward into Florida. It is linked with 19 different Kuchler Plant Associations and 60 SAF Cover Types that are listed in the Index of Species Information link above. Its natural habitat is widespread and varied so in order to answer your question one would need to know where the associated community is. It may be possible to access the map of the Potential Natural Vegetation of the Conterminous United States (modifed Kuchler) via USGS but I was not successful in doing so using the Kuchler Plant Associations link above. You might be able to download a copy of Kuchler's article, Potential Natural Vegetation of the Conterminous United States via ResearchGate.

Here is more/easier to read information from the US Forest Service about Acer rubrum and you can see a map of Forest Resources of the United States from NationalAtlas.gov. You can also read the list of Existing Vegetation References and Codes compiled in February 2014 by the US Forest Service. The description of the different SAF cover types is given in the following reference: Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada. F. H. Eyres, editor. 1980. Society of American Foresters. You might check a nearby library to see if it is available.