Download 1 EARLY APRIL: • Red maple and alder are in bloom. • Buffleheads

EARLY APRIL:
• Red maple and alder are in bloom. • Buffleheads, migrating loons and mergansers stop at lakes.
MID­APRIL:
• Spicebush blooms in wetlands. • Mammals that mated in February give birth.
LATE APRIL:
• Return of broad­winged hawks; ospreys; hermit thrushes; Louisiana waterthrushes; sapsuckers; barn and cliff swallows; blue­gray gnatcatchers; blue­headed vireos; ruby­ crowned kinglets; towhees; chipping sparrows; and pine, black and yellow­rumped warblers. • Spring azure butterflies emerge from chrysalides. • Toads begin trilling and laying eggs. • Snakes emerge from hibernation. • Shadbush trees bloom. • Early wildflowers such as trailing arbutus, hepatica, red trillium, trout lily and dwarf ginseng
start to appear.
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Another sign of spring: Seven maples sprouting
April 04, 2010 Maples occupy a deservedly firm place in our region's natural heritage as one of the most popular and beloved group of trees.
The tradition of extracting sap and boiling it down into sweet syrup every February or March has been exhibited to thousands of local residents over the years by our own Monroe County Environmental Education Center. And the world­famous October colors of our northeastern forests owe themselves mainly to the same sugar maple and its even more common relative, red maple.
Few people, however, are aware of another beautiful annual feature of maples — their spring flowers.
There are seven kinds of maples growing wild in the forests of the Poconos, including the alien Norway maple which has "escaped" from its former place as an ornamental and street tree and now has invaded some of our woodlands. Only the oaks, with nine local species, exceed the maple in their diversity in the Poconos.
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1.
How many kinds of maples grow wild in the forests of the Poconos?
2.
Which type of tree exceeds maples in their diversity in the Poconos?
3.
There are seven kinds of maples growing wild in the forests of the Poconos, including the alien Norway maple which has "escaped" from its former place as an ornamental and street tree and now has invaded some of our woodlands. Only the oaks, with nine local species, exceed the maple in their diversity in the Poconos.
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Beginning with the huge, arching, spreading silver maples along the Delaware River at the very end of winter, our maples display their flower clusters of red, orange or yellow through the spring before the forests become fully leafed­out. Silver maple's yellow or yellowish­orange flowers burst open from their red buds along the twigs well before any of the tree's leaves emerge, making them very showy along the shores of the Delaware, where this big tree is more or less restricted. The tree's common name comes from the whitish undersides of the leaves, which are the most deeply cut and feathery of all our maples. The appearance of their silvery bottoms when the breezes blow against the drooping, loose branches hanging over the river is quite striking.
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The closely related red maple is not only the most abundant tree in the Poconos but is probably the most widely distributed tree in the United States — from northern Maine (and southern Canada) all the way down to southern Florida. Also called swamp maple, it's most common in wooded wetlands but also grows in just about every other habitat, including pine barrens. Up to 175 feet tall in exceptional circumstances, it's our The flowers appear in early spring (March and April), a bit tallest maple.
later than those of silver maple, and are more colorful: bright red (female) or orange (male). The three­lobed leaves are smaller than those of most maples and have many fine teeth along the edges. Like many other parts of the tree (flowers, buds, twigs, seeds, leaf­stems), the autumn leaves are usually bright red and are responsible for phenomenal displays on Pocono Plateau.
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The most famous species, sugar maple, is also the most valuable, for its sweet sap, hardwood and autumn colors. It's one of the most important members of the northern hardwood, or "beech­
birch­maple," forests that dominate the rich, moist soils in the northeastern, northcentral, and Appalachian states.
The yellow, tassellike flowers appear in late April and lend a beautiful, hazy, pastel coloration to our forests. Sugar maple's leaf is on the Canadian flag and lacks the finely toothed edges of red maple.
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Often occurring with sugar maple in the high elevations of the Poconos is the small striped maple (also called "moosewood" in Canada), which rarely exceeds 6 inches in diameter and 30 feet in height. Named for its beautiful, smooth, white­
striped, green bark, this maple occurs in the lower, understory level of the forest and is fairly short­lived.
The small, yellow flowers bloom in drooping clusters just as the large, three­lobed ("goose­foot" maple) leaves appear in May.
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Even smaller and more shrubby is the mountain maple, which is restricted to the coolest rocky ravines and highest elevations of our area. Its leaves are similar to those of red maple but much smaller, and it is the only maple with clusters of flowers in erect, upright spikes.
Acer spicatum
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Our only maple with compound leaves, box elder is also called three­leaf or ash­leaf maple for this unusual feature. In fact, the leaves can be easily mistaken for those of poison ivy. The twigs of box elder, however, have a very distinct green or bluish color, often with a whitish bloom. Although it sometimes gets 100 feet tall, box elder usually grows as a low, sprawling tree with multiple, leaning trunks along rivers, streams and ponds. Along with trembling aspen, its one of the only trees that occurs from coast to coast.
Box elder's reddish­ or greenish­yellow flowers appear in the very early spring, before the leaves, in long, drooping clusters, with male and female flowers on separate trees — another unique feature among the maples.
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The leaves of the ashleaf maple appear in opposite pairs divided into 3 to 7 leaflets. This sample pulled from a young tree had only 3 leaflet sets. Notice that the middle leaf does not have a longer stem as does poison ivy.
Ashleaf maples are prone to spouting at the base of the tree. This looks much like poison ivy particularly with the 3­leaflet configuration. 10
Finally, one of the most popular trees from Europe to be cultivated and planted in our country as an ornamental and shade tree, Norway maple has integrated itself in some forests and become an invasive pest. Nevertheless, it's bright yellowish­green flowers, in rounded clusters at the ends of the purplish twigs, are a beautiful, fragrant addition to the late spring scene just before the large leaves fully unfold and the forests take on their summer appearance.
broad, flat leaves simple leaves lobed leaves palmately lobed notches U­shaped small notches with milky juice 11