Maple Tree Identification. Note: There are thousands of species of maple trees in the world and we only know a few. We cannot easily identify maple species for you. We do not have high-speed Internet so please do not send photos of trees or leaves unless they are smaller than 30 kb in size.ugar and black maple both grow in the shade of other trees (they are shade tolerant), and trees of many different ages (sizes) are often found in a forest. Both species are also found in stands composed of trees that are essentially all the same age (size).