I found two of these little maple (i think) saplings randomly growing in some cement cracks.. Iv been searching acer species trying to identify it, the most similar i think is vine maple but mine seems to have muh more sharply defined leaves. Any ideas ?
this looks like a sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ) and i think they grow in your heat zone. are there any trees nearby resembling this type? knowing more about the mature bark would help. it also looks like it could be a silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ). maybe this info will help: SUGAR MAPLE: 3-5 inches wide; 5lobed (rarely 3-lobed); bright green upper surface and a paler green lower surface; leaf margin without fine teeth (compare with red and silver maple). Young trees up to 4-8 inches with smooth gray bark. Older trees developing furrows and ultimately long, irregular, thick vertical plates that appear to peal from the trunk in a vertical direction. A somewhat shiny, brownish, slender, relatively smooth twig with 1/4-3/8 inch long sharply pointed terminal bud. Horseshoe-shaped double-winged fruit with parallel or slightly divergent wings. Winged seed approximately 1" long. Fruits mature in fall. SILVER MAPLE: 5-7 inches wide; deeply clefted; 5-lobed with the sides of the terminal lobe diverging toward the tip; light green upper surface and a silvery white underside; leaf margin with fine teeth (but not the inner edges of the sinuses). Silvery gray on young trees breaking into long thin scaly plates that give the trunks of older trees a very shaggy appearance. Considerable red is seen in bark pattern as scales develop. Similar to red maple but bruised or scraped bark has a very fetid or foul odor. V-shaped, double-winged fruit 11/2 to 2 inches long, with widely divergent wings. One of two seeds present is often poorly developed or aborted. Fruit matures in spring. this doesn't look like Acer circinatum 'vine maple', which has 7-11 lobes and looks 'fatter' than this. if you can't figure it out on your own, post more pics (maybe of a mature tree) and ill be happy to help you identify it.
Whatever type of maple it turns out to be, you've planted it way to close to the fence. Sugar and silver maples are extremely fast growing shallow feeding trees.
