Help with tree i.d.

[Amy]

Anyone know what this is? Dtels'?

[garymd]

Looks like a red maple but I'm just an ameteur. All maples leave a mess in the Spring. If it is a maple, those seedlings will turn into little helicopters and spin with the wind, straight into your gutters. []

[jason str]

Its almost impossible to know what you have there until the leaves are out, repost when they are out.

[Amy]

Ah, so they are helicopter "sprouts!" That makes sense. I'll try to remember to post the leaves when they are out.

Thanks!

[Bill H.]

Or better yet, post a picture of Steven - trying to make the Helicopters Fly !.............[H]

[LarryC]

I wonder if it's a sassafras tree. Do you have those in IN? I didn't see helicopters.

[dtel's wife]

Is this tree in an actual landscaped area, or is it just "growing" somewhere? It leaf kind of looks like a maple. I am leaning more towards some kind of fruit tree. The branches kind of look like they have "fruit buds" on them...but it is almost impossible to tell from the pic you have posted.

[oldtimer]

If you crush the young leaves and they smell sort of like citrus then it is probably a sassafras. In just a week or so you should be able to post a new pic of the leaves more fully formed. I would lean toward maple right now if it is one or the other because the sassafras fruit seems to be on more upright stems, while maples have that dropping habit. Please update this, plant ID is so much fun!

[mungkiman]

Does this red maple bloom look familiar?

[BigStewMan]

sorry amy, i don't think it looks like a dtel. but it might after you crush it up and smell it like oldtimer suggests

[Bill H.]

My take on this.............is that it is a Sugar Maple Tree. Common to Indiana.

JMHO.

[garymd]

I have sugar maple buds all over my back patio at the moment. For the next few weeks I'll be using the blower at least twice a day so it isn't tracked through the house. Then come the helicopters! On windy days in April, it sometimes looks like it's snowing.

I used to think we had a mole problem in our yard but I'm now convinced it's a few million maple seedlings trying to take root. We have taken down 6 very large maple trees in our yard for various reasons. You don't want them anywhere near your foundation or driveway/sidewalks because of their shallow/surface root systems. On the plus side, they grow very quickly (except Japanese maples) and make great shade/climbing trees.

[dtel's wife]

sorry amy, i don't think it looks like a dtel. but it might after you crush it up and smell it like oldtimer suggests

Are you calling me a "sassafras"?[] BTW, dtel says he doesn't smell so great and he isn't even crushed up like oldtimer suggests![]

[ace168516]

Amy, I was all excited to solve your query as I was mowing my lawn and saw a nearly identical image on one of my trees. I took a second look and I have red buds and green stems, no leaves yet. Maybe they will change soon, if spring hits Indy before IL, but mine is a maple, and looks a lot like your pic as many have suggested. I was all excited to take a pic of it now, the whole tree, and a past pic of the tree in bloom to have someone identify it for you, but it seems slightly different from your pic.

[BigStewMan]

sorry amy, i don't think it looks like a dtel. but it might after you crush it up and smell it like oldtimer suggests

Are you calling me a "sassafras"? BTW, dtel says he doesn't smell so great and he isn't even crushed up like oldtimer suggests!

I meant no disrespect to the dtel name. what i meant was that if she crushed up those leaves and snorted them, that she might have a, let's say a...psychedelic experience and then the tree might look like a dtel.

[Amy]

I'm convinced now that it's a maple...the leaves are coming out oh-so-slightly and they are classic maple shaped. I'm going to go with Sugar also, but I'll take another pic when I go back again. FYI, the tree is not in my yard, but lines our neighborhood playground. (I was bored the other day while Steven was playing, so I took some random photos. Naturally.) This particular tree really caught my eye.

Funny, I grew up in the woods and the trees were my playmates, but I never paid much attention to them until recently. I've never seen one bloom like this, although I'm sure I have passed by them a million times in my life. Dad even used to make syrup from our Sugar Maples.

I must be getting old. Is sudden fascination with trees a sure sign?

[BigStewMan]

Is sudden fascination with trees a sure sign?

Not until you start drawing up plans for a tree house.

[dtel's wife]

I knew you were just kidding! Yes, she just might have a real experience if she snorted them!

[CECAA850]

I thought Maple leafs had 5 points, not 3?

[Thaddeus Smith]

based on your picture and the sketch at this link ..i think it's a Boxelder, Ashleaf Maple..

http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/WhatTree.cfm?ItemID=E23c