Trident vs red rubrum maple

[Popper]

Hey guys need help with id of this tree is it a trident or red maple?
I'm in south africa it's beginning of winter here usda zone 9b
There are plenty seeds on the tree

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Definitely a red maple

 

[BobbyLane]

It could be a Blue maple

 

[BonsaiDTLA]

Hey guys need help with id of this tree is it a trident or red maple?
I'm in south africa it's beginning of winter here usda zone 9b
There are plenty seeds on the tree

Hey Popper, you didn’t attach a photo so we can’t see what you’re referring to.

 

[Popper]

Lol sorry it's my first time posting
Don't knw how that happend

 

[Popper]

 

[rockm]

Trident. Tridents have exfoliating bark and are relatively common in the nursery trade here in the Southern U.S. Red maple (acer rubrum) is a U.S. native tree, don't know if it's all that common in the nursery trade in S. Africa

 

[Popper]

It could be a Blue maple

Hey its real okay! I've seen seeds for sale on alibaba

 

[Popper]

Trident. Red maple (acer rubrum) is a U.S. native tree, don't know if it's all that common in the nursery trade in S. Africa

The area that I'm in has alot of trident maples that the municipality planted years back along the roadsides
This trees Leaves are a little bit different from the other tridents with the serrations whereas the others r quite Straight three lobed leaves s

 

[dbonsaiw]

It could be a Blue maple

Need to get me some of those seeds!

 

[rockm]

The area that I'm in has alot of trident maples that the municipality planted years back along the roadsides
This trees Leaves are a little bit different from the other tridents with the serrations whereas the others r quite Straight three lobed leaves s

Trident leaves are variable. There are several cultivars, even leaves on the same tree can vary a bit. This definitely IS NOT acer rubrum, wrong bark, wrong leaf shape.

 

[Popper]

Thanks guys...planning on air layering this tree in late spring early summer

 

[SeanS]

We have tridents galore in SA, highly doubt we have acer rubrum. Many of the landscape tridents are of the “frog foot” variety but their seedlings have the regular deeply pronged 3 prong shape, the ugly frog foot leaves seem to be due to age and size of the landscape trees but don’t necessarily show up in seedlings from the same tree.

Seeds collected last week in Johannesburg with a frog foot leaf in the bag

 

[Shibui]

Trident leaves do change shape as they grow and mature. That 'frog foot' shape seems to be the mature leaf shape and is seen on mature landscape trees. As @SeanS has noted seed from those trees almost always grows as the leaf shape we are familiar with in bonsai.
Pretty sure A. rubrum seed matures in spring so trees with mature seed in winter are highly unlikely to be rubrum.
Grab some seed from the tree and see what the progeny are like. No need to stratify fresh maple seed. Just sow it and wait for spring.

 

[Popper]

We have tridents galore in SA, highly doubt we have acer rubrum. Many of the landscape tridents are of the “frog foot” variety but their seedlings have the regular deeply pronged 3 prong shape, the ugly frog foot leaves seem to be due to age and size of the landscape trees but don’t necessarily show up in seedlings from the same tree.

Seeds collected last week in Johannesburg with a frog foot leaf in the bag

View attachment 492489

Lol i did the same thing here by me... Yep u right I have seen the frog foot leaves, did collect a couple seeds n have them alrdy planted let's see what pops up end of the year