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THE RED MAPLES of STONEY RUN I collected a trinomial (third name) variant of a red maple today in an Anne Arundel County swamp. In the photo below and attached, I collected both a common Red Maple Acer rubrum (FAC) and a subspecies known as Acer rubrum trilobum (FACW+) Trident Red Maple (like the three pronged spear) or Three-Lobed Red Maple, in a swamp near BWI airport, in Anne Arundel County. The A. rubrum trilobum  has smaller leaves than the common Red Maple and are distinctively 3-lobed and more rounded at the base of the leaf. The Trident Red Maple is an 'obligated' wetland species found in nearly persistent wet wetlands, such as swamps. Uncommon, and habitat specific, this tree can be found throughout the eastern United States but is oriented more so to southern Virginia and North Carolina.  I've only seen this subspecies on a handful of occasions.  I've also attached a PDF article about the Trident Red Maple from the USDA. Summer_2007/IdentificationOfPlantSpeciesTrinomials5_%2024_2007(2).pdf Submitted by Mark Burchick

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