Our red maple trees are blooming before their own leaves appear, as usual. Here you see two images of the male red maple flowers:
Below, you’ll see two images of the tree’s female flowers:
Red maples are -- don’t try to pronounce it -- "polygamo-dioecious." That merely means that some red maple trees have only male flowers, some only female flowers, and some both male and female flowers.
The male flowers have long anthers with beads of pollen at their ends; they look a bit like small pin cushions. The females have clusters of flowers with "Y-shaped" stigmas sticking out of them, a bit like a snake’s tongue. The females try to catch the pollen that is cast into the wind by the males.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 5, 2026.)