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Sugar/Silver Maple Identification

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From: William Ferguson City: Versailles, IL
Sirs I have watched emerging volunteer maple trees with the intention of transplanting them. Unfortunatly what looked like a hard maple leaf on the young tree turned out to be a soft maple leaf a year later. how does one distinguish between a hard maple and a soft maple when they first sprout? I don't believe I have ever seen this subject addressed in any publications. thanks very much bill
	Extension Message From: Jay Hayek Extension Specialist, Forestry Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences jhayek@illinois.edu
Greetings Bill: Since leaf morphology on young seedlings can sometimes be problematic (as you've already encountered), the next best way to "key" out these two trees is via their buds/twigs. Here is a good Website: http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/factsheets.cfm In addition, you can always purchase the new edition of Forest Trees of Illinois: https://pubsplus.uiuc.edu/C1396.html
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