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, 10-Mar-2008 16:21:03 EDT