Hello, This is my first post here. I registered because I thought maybe some of you could help me figure out what type of tree I found. First of all, it is just a small seedling, 4' whip, that started growing wild in a residential yard. It was near a large silver maple and has a silver maple looking leaf shape to me but I'm no expert. The reason it stood out to me was this fall it has put on an amazing display of color. About 3 weeks ago I noticed it turning a yellow/pink which was pretty but I've seen other silver maples with this color. Then about two weeks ago it turned solid bright pink! If that wasn't enough, last week it got darker and turned a bright red. It's still holding it's bright red leaves today, slightly darker, and is a complete stand out. The leaves all turned at the same time, this isn't just a fluke leaf. I've seen hundreds of silver maple seedlings, maybe thousands, and I've never seen one like this. Has anyone seen anything like this? I was thinking maybe it is a natural hybrid? I didn't see any red maples around though. I'm interested to see how it grows and if it colors up like this reliably so I'm going to transplant it in my back yard to see what it does next year. I know silver maples have a lot of issues with weak wood and surface roots but man would it be cool to have a tree that grows that fast and large with such a beautiful fall display. I'm attaching a picture of one of the leaves that fell off today to see if any of you experts can identify it. I took the picture next to a can of wd40 for size and color comparison. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
Yeah, that's what I was thinking but I didn't see any red maples around. How close do they need to be for this to happen?
Not sure about distances as I believe most Maples are wind pollinated, though I do see bees working the flowers at times.
