Field maple
Acer campestreField maple is a dense, domed tree, or a clipped shrub in hedges. Its small leaves have rounded lobes, and its paired keys spread almost in a straight line.
How to identify field maple →
Lookalikes
Field maple or spindle?
Both are hedgerow shrubs with their leaves in facing pairs.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the young shoot. Field maple: thin and pale brown, often with corky ridges. Spindle: deep green and slightly square.
At a glance
| Look at | Field maple | Spindle |
|---|---|---|
| Young shoot | Thin and pale brown, often with corky ridges | Deep green and slightly square |
| Outline of a leaf | Five rounded lobes, a few big blunt teeth | A narrow pointed oval with tiny sharp teeth |
| Fruit in autumn | Paired winged keys, wings in a line | A pink four-lobed capsule, orange seeds inside |
Three ways to tell them apart
Young shootTwigs and buds
Outline of a leafLeaves
Fruit in autumnKeys
The two trees
Spindle
Euonymus europaeusSpindle is a shrub or small tree, most often in hedges. In autumn its bright pink fruit splits open to show four orange seeds. Its twigs are deep green and slightly square.
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), jsilloth (CC0), Alex Press (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.