Red Alert

Springtime and sexual identity expressed in maple flowers

Female flowers of Silver Maple and Red Maple

FOR MANY OF US, the early hints of spring are not green — they are red. Maple trees are exploding into displays of crimson flowers.

Flowers? Where are the petals in those images above? They’re tiny and inconspicuous, granting us an intimate view of the raw reproduction happening now among some of our most commo…