Mike in Mystic schreef
There are an estimated 200 species of maple trees, all in the family
Aceraceae.

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A little over 120 species, actually. They are all in the same family,
although you can get in a fight as to which family.
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Of these, I've only used sugar maple, also known as hard maple or rock
maple. It is a great wood to work with, very dense and stable and is used
widely in furniture and many other things. I have also seen reference
made (but never used myself) soft maple.

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Basically all decent maple wood is soft maple, except for sugar maple, Acer
saccharum (incl Acer nigrum) which is hard maple
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"DAN & CINDY" wrote
This is to all of the wood buffs who can tell the difference in the
maples.
1st how many different types of maple trees are there,

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c 120 spp (not counting cultivars)
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2nd how can you tell the difference.

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to be told apart by looking at the leaves and the size and angle of the
keys.
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Last but not least, is one better than the other?

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Depends on what you think important. Lots of people think Japanes maples are
best since they stay small
PvR