Field Maple
Field Maple
Tree
Britain's only native maple — a neat hedgerow tree with small lobed leaves that glow butter-yellow in autumn and paired, spinning winged seeds.
💡 Fun Facts
- Field maple is the only maple tree that is truly wild and native to Britain.
- Its winged seeds, called 'keys', often come in pairs set in a straight line, like a tiny aeroplane propeller.
- In autumn its leaves turn a glowing butter-yellow, lighting up hedgerows all over the countryside.
📅 Through the Year
- Leaf-out:April
- Flowering:May
- Fruiting:September to October
- Leaf fall:October to November
Name Story
Acer campestre
means “the maple of the fields”
What does its name mean?
- Acer — maple tree (the word also means 'sharp', for the hard wood and pointed leaf-lobes)Latin
- campestre — of the fields, of open countryLatin campus, 'plain, open field'
Field maple means 'the maple of the fields', and it is Britain's only native maple — a tree of hedgerows and field edges out in the open countryside, with the classic lobed maple leaf.