This narrowly oval tree is
placed at the north corner of the Science Center Terrace, where
visitors to the Kollett Academic Computing Center can have a
close view of the unusual upright branches, twigs, and leaves.
It was the poet and arborist Rutherford Platt who declared that
"if you could know only one tree, it would have to be a
Red Maple." What can justify such enthusiasm? Just watch,
early next spring, for the flowers that will gradually begin
to open on the Red Maple - the buds red, gold and orange, sparkling
with sap. They are (to quote Platt again) "a sight worth
going halfway around the world to see." These are the flowers
which, when seen against a deep blue sky create the pleasing
red floral nimbus that is the Red Maple's brilliant October foliage
that initiates the pageant of autumn color and you will at once
recognize why these trees are so prized.
One can quickly list simpler things to enjoy in Red Maples - the silver bark that rivals that of the beech; the dense green of the leaves which now and then, when ruffled by a breeze, show the pale underside. They provide us, too, with the entertaining game of checking out the old saying "At all times of year Red Maples show something red" - the red tinge on the edges of the early leaves, the summer leaf-stems, the winter buds, the double-winged seeds, all show red. Finally, and not least, they give us the red flames of maple fire-logs. All in all, suitable symbols in a memorial for someone remembered for his warm friendliness.
Last update 5/97