Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum Marsh.
Also known as Hard Maple or Rock Maple.
Mature Size: 70 to 100 feet in height and 2 to 3 feet in diameter.
Form: Fairly large tree with dense, oval crown.
Habitat: Cool slopes with moist, well-drained loamy soils.
Leaves
Opposite, simple, 3 to 5 inches long and wide, palmately lobed and veined, with five lobes separated by rounded, shallow sinuses; turning brilliant shades of red, yellow and orange in fall.
Flowers
Light yellow-green, small, clustered, hanging from a 1 to 3 inch stem, appearing with or slightly before the leaves.
Fruit
Horseshoe-shaped, 2-winged, 1 inch long, in clusters, spinning like propellers when they fall.
Bark
Gray to brown, darker on older trees, developing furrows, with long, thick irregular ridges that curl outward.
Twigs
Brown, slender and shiny with lighter pores; end buds brown, very sharp pointed, with tight scales.
Values and Uses
The pale brown or pink wood is hard, heavy, strong and close-grained. It used for flooring, furniture, veneer and novelties. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds; rabbits, deer and squirrels browse the twigs; and sapsuckers ring the tree with holes and return to feed on the sap and insects it attracts. The trees are "tapped" for their sweet sap, which is used to make maple syrup and maple sugar.
Did You Know?
Sugar maple wood sometimes has unique patterns, such as "birdseye" or "curly" figures, which make the wood highly prized. The causes of this figured wood are not well understood.
Last modified: Monday, 19-Oct-2009 15:49:50 EDT
