The Red Maple Swamp is a lush, wooded wetland that occurs in low-elevation areas in southern parts of Maine. It occurs in basins, often near streams or on floodplains, and the soil stays saturated all year long after seasonal flooding in spring. It contains mineral soils, sometimes with a layer of well-decomposed organic matter on top.
As the name suggests, this plant community is dominated by Red Maple trees. There is a good mix of conifers as well, including Balsam Fir and Red Spruce, and there may be an occasional Green Ash or Yellow Birch tree sprinkled in. A patchy shrub layer includes bushes such as Common Winterberry, and there is a vibrant and diverse herbal layer with plenty of Bluejoint, Sensitive Fern, Bunchberry, Showy Lady’s Slippers, and moss. Rare plants that can be found here include Northern Spicebush, Swamp White Oak, and Coastal Sweet Pepperbush. Sometimes this plant community overlaps with Silver Maple Floodplain Forests, which are dominated by Silver Maples and have better drainage.
The swampiness and likely proximity to streams or rivers make this plant community home to animals that need water. In moist mounds of sphagnum moss, Four-toed Salamanders will breed. Rare turtles such as Spotted Turtles and Wood Turtles will forage in this area. They also hibernate here, burying themselves under the mud to wait for warmer weather. Northern Waterthrush, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Yellow-throated Vireos prefer this environment, especially if the canopy is mostly or entirely closed. Silver-haired Bats may roost in the trees as well.
Plant Features:
Red Maple
The namesake of this plant community is the most abundant native tree in Eastern North America, reaching up to 60 feet tall when fully grown. It has light gray bark that is smooth when young and cracks into plates with age. The Red Maple is aptly named—almost everything about this classic New England tree is red! It produces brilliant red leaves in the fall and vibrant red flowers in May, which are followed by red samaras. One tree can produce tens of thousands of samaras, more commonly known as “helicopter seeds.” In summer, it is easy to identify a maple tree, but it is a little trickier to distinguish species. Look for leaves with three distinct lobes (compared to sugar maples, which have five), and of course the petioles (leaf stems) are red!
Red Maples are somewhat shorter-lived trees, only living 80-100 years. They are often found as a successional tree in young forests and are well-adapted to those shady conditions. They grow in extremely varied soils ranging from poor and dry to swampy. These trees can do this because as young saplings, the roots immediately adapt to the site: in wet areas, taproots are short and wide, and in dry areas, taproots are deep and narrow. Even within one site, Red Maples can be both drought and flood tolerant.
Historically, humans have found many uses for Red Maple trees. Indigenous people used the bark as a wash for inflamed eyes, among other remedies. European settlers made cinnamon-brown and black dyes from the bark. These trees are more abundant today than when European settlers arrived. This is because over time, prescribed burns greatly diminished, and the fire-sensitive Red Maples were better able to thrive. Also, because there are so many young, shrubby forests that are recovering from human disturbance, the successional Red Maples were able to readily populate previously forested lands. Nowadays, the hardy and adaptable wood is used to make tools, furniture, clothespins, musical instruments, and more. It is also planted frequently as a street tree for its brilliant colors. Red Maples can be tapped for sap to make maple syrup, but they are trickier than Sugar Maples. To avoid unpleasant flavors, sap must be collected before budburst—this happens earlier in the season for Red Maples. Also, the sugar concentration in the sap simply isn’t as high.
Red Maples have excellent value for wildlife. The early season flowers are an important nectar source for pollinators at a time when there are not many other flowers available. It is a host plant for 282 caterpillar species, including the beautiful Rosy Maple Moth. Squirrels, chipmunks, and birds eat the seeds and shelter in its branches. Deer and moose will also browse the lower branches.
Smooth Arrowwood
Smooth Arrowwood is often found in Red Maple Swamp plant communities as part of the shrub layer. It can tolerate a wide variety of sun and soil conditions, including the semi-shaded and wet woodlands characteristic of this plant community. It can get quite large, growing up to 10 feet tall and wide. Suckers form at the base, giving it a dense and multi-trunked form. The leaves are glossy, dark green, toothed, and somewhat shaped like an arrowhead, contributing to the meaning of its name. It blooms in the spring with flat-topped, creamy white flowers that are nonfragrant. These flowers become dark blue fruits in the fall. This plant cannot self-pollinate, so there must be at least two individuals for it to fruit. Fruiting often coincides with leaf color change, with colors ranging from yellow to deep red.
Because of the straight stems, Indigenous people use the wood to make arrow shafts, which is likely how Smooth Arrowwood got its name. Although edible, the raw fruit is mostly made up of seed, so it may be better to make it into a jam, jelly, or sauce. The dense growth of this shrub makes it an excellent choice for a hedge, border, or screen plant, especially because it takes well to pruning and shaping. Although deer may browse on the leaves and twigs, it can bounce back easily, making it quite deer resistant.
Smooth Arrowwood provides value to a wide variety of wildlife. The subtle scent from the flowers attracts fly pollinators, among other insects. It is a host plant for clearwing moths and woolly bears. Birds use the dense branches for nesting, and because the berries are high in fat, they make a great food source for migrating birds in the fall.
Royal Fern
Royal Fern is one of the largest ferns in the northeast, growing up to six feet tall! It grows in moist to wet and shady areas, making a Red Maple Swamp the perfect habitat. However, this is a highly cosmopolitan species, meaning its range is widely distributed around the world. In fact, it is possibly the only vascular plant that has been found on all seven continents—although not found in snowy Antarctica now, there has been fossil evidence of this fern growing there during the Triassic period. It has smooth-lobed, bright green leaflets with prominent vein lines on the leaves. The foliage turns yellow and orange in the fall. A cluster of leaflets with reproductive spores grows up from the top of the fern from late spring to early summer. The golden color and shape of these leaflets supposedly resemble a crown, giving this fern its name.
Historically, Royal Ferns were the source of osmunda fiber for potting orchids. Epiphytic orchids require an organic potting medium to grow off of, and Royal Fern roots release nutrients as they slowly decompose, making it a perfect base for orchids. The roots were used for this until the 1950s, when populations of Royal Ferns were becoming scarce due to overharvesting. It was replaced by fir bark, which is cheaper and easier to use, but perhaps lower quality. Nowadays, these ferns make a great plant for a woodland border, and the spring fiddleheads are edible. In gardens and in the wild, these huge ferns make excellent cover for small animals.
To learn more about Red Maples and their plant communities, check out our upcoming webinar and plant walks:
Natural Communities Webinars and Nature Walks
Natural Communities & Seasonal Change is a three-part spring learning series that combines monthly webinars with guided field experiences to explore Maine’s native plant communities through the lens of seasonal phenology. The series focuses on how native trees and shrubs signal ecological change, support wildlife, and shape both natural and human landscapes. Participants will build skills in observation, plant identification, and reading the landscape as spring unfolds.
Webinar on March 25, 5:30-7 pm
Natural Communities Visit: Maples in Portland – Thursday, March 26, 3-4 pm
Natural Communities Visit: Maples at Fields Pond – Saturday, March 28, 3-4 pm
