Field Maple seeds

Field Maple trees have now lost almost all their leaves and are left with a kind of messy brown frizz of seed pods. However, get up close and they become much more interesting. A mixture of frost and high winds will eventually cause each pair of winged seeds to detach and the wings will then make them spin, slow their fall and make it more likely they will be blown a little way away from the parent tree, to germinate into offspring that will not be shaded by and will not compete with the parent. Clever! While hanging in clusters they can be viewed against the light, revealing the lovely branching internal structure of the wings.