hello, i found a maple tree near monterey bay, california. i have trouble iding it, any maple experts to help me identify this tree? looks like either acer serrulatum or acer buergerianum, or some asian maple species
For optimal confirmation of supposed trident maple show the overall habit and the bark. (Presentation of more than just a small portion of a tree or other plant is more likely to garner reliable responses generally).
the samaras are very odd, though. they are shaped like section platanoides, but ill label it as trident maple for now.
This is how we know it's not buergerianum: the nutlets are flat, but Trident maple has rounded nutlets. So, as Michael and Soumil suggest, Sec Platanoidea has flat nutlets. But I can't really see a maple in the section that fits completely. A. truncatum has green petioles and 5 lobes, though I suppose enthusiastic growth might have 3 lobes. A. fulvescens might have 3 lobes, but the angle of them looks wrong for that maple. However, A. longipes does in some ways fit the bill. Here's a screenshot of one of the deLanghe scans: A. longipes sometimes has red petioles, and it does have the truncate to rounded leaf base, as well as the 3-5 lobes of the mystery tree. But it has quite papery leaves, while the leaves in the picture look quite leathery? Of course it's a very rare maple indeed, so the odds of running across one seems pretty high. Does the mystery tree have milky sap? That's always a key thing to check when looking for an ID.
Looking closely at the pic there are at least a couple of 5-lobed leaves (see red marks below); it would be worth getting more pics.
It could be Acer discolor, or Acer paxii : the two are considered as synonyms by some. Here's a photo of the leaves on one of my A. discolor : PS : have a look at the thread about A. discolor in the maple photo gallery : Acer discolor There are lso a few pics of A. paxii here : Acer paxii - Evergreen maple