Leaf guide › Maples
Norway maple
Acer platanoides
A European maple planted along streets and in yards across the Northeast, and the tree most often mistaken for sugar maple.
- Fall color
- Yellow
- Turns
- Late
- Leaves
- Opposite (in pairs)
- Size
- 4–7 in. across
- Found in
- New England & New York, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes & North Woods, Midwest, Pacific Northwest
How to recognize it
- Snap a leaf stem and a drop of milky white sap oozes out. Sugar maple’s sap is clear.
- Five to seven lobes with shallow, rounded notches between them, and a few long teeth drawn out into fine points.
- Leaves are usually wider than they are long, and a darker, glossier green than sugar maple.
- Still green in November, after native maples have turned and dropped, then turns plain yellow.
- The winged seeds spread wide apart, almost in a straight line.
Where to find it
Look for it along city and suburban streets, in yards and parks, and in woods near towns, where it has spread from planted trees.
Easy to confuse with
Worth knowing
Norway maple was widely planted along American streets, especially after Dutch elm disease killed off so many elms in the mid-1900s, because it handles pavement, poor soil, and pollution. It also spreads from those street trees into nearby woods, where its dense shade crowds out native wildflowers and seedlings, and it’s now considered invasive in much of the Northeast. The purple-leaved ‘Crimson King’ maple common in yards is a Norway maple too.
Common questions
What color does Norway maple turn in fall?
Norway maple turns plain yellow, sometimes with a touch of orange. It turns late, after sugar and red maples have finished, and in some years a hard freeze browns the leaves before they color.
When does Norway maple change color?
Late in the season. It often stays green into November, well after native maples nearby have dropped their leaves.
How can you tell Norway maple from sugar maple?
Snap the leaf stem: Norway maple oozes milky white sap, and sugar maple’s sap is clear. Norway maple leaves are also usually wider than they are long, with shallower notches, and they stay green weeks longer in fall.
Is Norway maple invasive?
Norway maple is native to Europe and western Asia. In much of the Northeast it spreads from street and yard trees into nearby woods, and it’s considered invasive there.
Where does Norway maple grow?
In the lower 48, it’s most common as a planted street and yard tree in New England & New York, the Mid-Atlantic, the Great Lakes & North Woods, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest, and it has spread into woods near towns in many of those places.
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