Norway Maple vs Silver Maple – What’s the difference?

Maples are very popular and widely grown all around the world. It is a huge family of around 132 species, most of which originate from the Asian continent. Norway maple and silver maple are amongst the popular species of maples that grow widely in the European and Asian regions.

Norway Maple vs Silver Maple – Difference

Both Norway and silver maples are fast-growing or rapidly growing trees and are popularly found trees. Also, they both have somewhat similar characteristics. However, they both are very different, and it can easily be judged by the difference in their leaf structure, barks, and fruits they bear. The leaves of Norway maple have pointed lobes, while silver maple has palmately lobed leaves. The barks of Norway maples are somewhat darker than silver maple. And also, regarding their flowers, silver maple has red flowers, while Norway maples are known to have yellow flowers.

These are the main and easy distinctions between the two. Let us get into more detail about them below.

Norway maple

Norway maples are widely grown in the Eastern and Central European region and Western Asian region. It is popularly grown as a shady tree as it is a tolerant and adaptable tree. It is a large deciduous tree that grows up to the height of 40-60 feet and is also popularly known for its hardness.

The leaves of Norway maple are segmented into 5-7 lobes that are pointy. They are known to have dark green colored leaves, which turn pale yellow during fall, and a smooth leaf margin. The leaves are around 16-20 cm long, which is comparatively longer than silver maple.

The young barks of Norway maple are smooth and brown in color. With age, these barks tend to grow darker and fissured. Further, Norway maple can be monoecious or dioecious, which means it can have both male and female flowers or just one of them. The fruits of Norway’s maple are called samaras, which are different looking from typical fruits.

Silver maple

Silver maple is widely grown in the eastern and central regions of the United States and is also known as white maple. Just like Norway maple, it is also a rapidly growing tree and is grown as an ornamental and shade tree. Silver maple is relatively taller and can grow up to 50-80 feet in height.

The leaves of silver maple have 5 lobes which are palmately lobed and are deeply incised. The surface color of the leaves is light green, and the underside bears a white color, which tends to turn yellow in fall. They are known to have a serrated leaf margin and are around 7-16 cm long.

The young barks of the silver maple are smooth and bear a light brown color. With age, it turns rougher, and the color gets darker. The fruits of silver maple are also known as samaras, but they are brownish-tan in color. Further, the flowers of silver maple are yellow, and it has both male and female flowers on the same tree.