David Bockman wrote:
" wrote in
oups.com:


You can tell the difference by the color of the underside of the
leaves. If they are not silvery, then it is a red maple. You can also
tell by the depth of the sinuses on the leaves- silver maple usually
has much deeper sinuses than red maple. There are also several hybrids
between the 2 trees (acer x freemanii) that have intermediate
characteristics of both parents. The culitvars mentioned by david are
actually the A. x freemanii species and not A. rubrum. Post a picture
of the buds.

Toad




'Autumn Blaze'-- A. X FREEMANII
'Autumn Flame'-- A. RUBRUM
'Fairview Flame'-- A. RUBRUM
'October Glory'-- A. RUBRUM.


Many growers offer Red Maples that are actually part silver, for faster
growth (faster growth = faster to market = more profit). These can be
called "red" or something else. "Autumn Blaze" is a patented version of
this hybrid. There's nothing wrong with that if the seller is honest
about what they are doing. Some gardeners snub the silver maples, but
silvers actually make pretty decent instant, non-permanent trees. I
planted several silver and part-silver maples this year amongst some
oaks. In ten or twenty years I'll thin out the maples and leave the
oaks. If you live in an area with hurricaines or icy winters though,
stay away from the silvers - they're too weak for those climates.

The leaf on the Canadian flag is a red maple. If your maple has leaves
with much deeper indentations then it is probably at least part silver,
although maple leaf shapes do vary in nature from one population to
another. Reds can have leaves that are grey or silver underneath like
silvers.

Make sure you don't have a Norway maple. These trees interbreed with
local species and ruin them. Norways are currently a major problem in
the sugar maple forests of Vermont.

Recently I noticed at a local Kmart about thirty mis-labelled trees.
The pots said everything from sycamore to buckey, but every one was some
sort of maple. These stores don't always buy from the most reliable
sources. I bought a tulip poplar from another Kmart this year that
turned out to be a European sycamore. Guess I got what I paid for....