These whorled patterns on the bark of Red Maple are my own shortcut to identifying this tree. When I'm looking at a large, mature tree the leaves are often 80 feet in the air and its tough to tell the difference based on the leaves.The opposite branching pattern is enough to tell me its a maple but then I have to figure out if its Red Maple or Sugar Maple. That's when I depend on the bark. These whorled markings remind me of "fingerprints". These "fingerprints" are not often this obvious on Red Maples but they are usually there if you look closely. Red Maple "fingerprints" are a great shortcut to identifying this tree.