Sugar Maple

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Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) is a species of maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as Maple. Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or included in the family Sapindaceae....
native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, from Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
west to southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, and south to Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
and Texas

Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
.

It is a deciduous

Deciduous

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
normally reaching heights of 25–35 m tall, and exceptionally up to 45 m (150 feet). A 10-year-old tree is typically about 5 m (15 ft) tall.

The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are deciduous

Deciduous

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Encyclopedia

Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) is a species of maple

Maple

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, from Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
west to southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, and south to Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
and Texas

Texas

Deciduous

TREE

Leaf

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
, 8-15 cm long and equally wide with five palmate lobes. The basal lobes are relatively small, while the upper lobes are larger and deeply notched. In contrast with the angular notching of the Silver Maple

Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum, known as the silver maple , is a species of maple native to eastern North America in the eastern United States and adjacent parts of southeast Canada....
, however, the notches tend to be rounded at their interior. The fall color is often spectacular, ranging from bright yellow through orange to fluorescent red-orange. Sugar maples also have a tendency to color unevenly in fall. In some trees, all colors above can be seen at the same time. There is also a tendency, as there is also with Red Maple

Red Maple

Acer rubrum , is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of Eastern United States North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland and Labrador, south to near Miami, Florida, Florida, and southwest to east Texas....
s, for certain parts of a mature tree to change color weeks ahead of or behind the remainder of the tree. The leaf buds are pointy and brown colored. The recent years growth twigs are green, and turn dark brown.

The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are in corymbs of 5-10 together, yellow-green and without petals; flowering occurs in early spring after 30-55 growing degree day

Growing degree day

Growing degree days are a heuristic tool in phenology. GDD are used by horticulture and gardeners to predict the date that a flower will bloom or a crop reach maturity....
s. The fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
is a double samara

Samara (fruit)

A samara is a type of fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. A samara is a simple dry fruit and indehiscent ....
with two winged seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s, the seeds are globose, 7-10 mm diameter, the wing 2-3 cm long. The seeds fall from the tree in autumn.

It is closely related to the Black Maple

Black Maple

Acer nigrum is a species of maple closely related to Acer saccharum , and treated as a subspecies of it by some authors, as Acer saccharum subsp....
, which is sometimes included in this species but sometimes separated as Acer nigrum. The western American Bigtooth Maple

Bigtooth Maple

Acer grandidentatum is a species of maple native to interior western North America, occurring in scattered populations from western Montana in the United States south to Coahuila in northern Mexico....
(Acer grandidentatum) is also treated as a variety or subspecies of Sugar Maple by some botanists.

The Sugar Maple is also often confused with the Norway Maple

Norway Maple

Acer platanoides is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and southwest Asia, from France east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran....
, though they are not closely related within the genus. The Sugar Maple is most easily identified by clear sap in the leaf petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
(the Norway Maple has white sap), brown sharp-tipped buds (the Norway Maple has blunt green or reddish purple buds), and shaggy bark on older trees (the Norway Maple bark has small grooves). Also, the leaf lobes of the Sugar Maple have a more triangular shape, in contrast to the squarish lobes of the Norway Maple.

Ecology

The Sugar Maple is an immensely important species to the ecology of many forests in North America. Pure stands are common, and it is a major component of many forest types. It often forms associations with the American Beech

American Beech

The Fagus grandifolia also known as American Beech is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States....
, forming the beech-maple forest

Beech-maple forest

A beech-maple forest is a climax community Mesic habitat closed canopy hardwood forest. It is primarily composed of American Beech and Sugar Maple trees which co-dominate the forest and which are the pinacle of plant succession in their range....
type, common in northern areas. Other associations include Sugar Maple-Yellow Birch

Yellow Birch

Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to Eastern United States North America, from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and southern Qu?bec west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia ....
(which is most important beyond the northern limit of beech), Sugar Maple-American Basswood

Tilia americana

Tilia americana is a species of Tilia, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Texas, and southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska....
, Sugar Maple-White Ash

White Ash

Ostrya

Ostrya is a genus of eight to ten small deciduous trees belonging to the birch family Betulaceae. Its common name is Hophornbeam in American English and Hop-hornbeam in British English....
-Red Oak

List of Quercus species

This is an incomplete list of Quercus species. The genus contains about 400 species....
. Sugar Maples engage in hydraulic lift, drawing water from lower soil layers and exuding that water into upper, drier soil layers. This not only benefits the tree itself but also many other plants growing around it.

Sugar Maple is among the most shade tolerant

Shade tolerance

Shade tolerance is an ecological concept that refers to plants' abilities to tolerate low light levels. The term is also used in horticulture and landscaping, although in this context its use is sometimes sloppy, especially with respect to labeling of plants for sale in nursery ....
of large deciduous trees. Among North American maples its shade tolerance is exceeded only by the Striped Maple

Striped Maple

Acer pensylvanicum is a species of maple native to northern forests in eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to eastern Illinois and New Jersey, and also at high elevations in the Appalachian Mountains much farther south than in the rest of its range, to northern Georgia ....
, a smaller tree. Like other maples, its shade tolerance is manifested in its ability to germinate and persist under a closed canopy as an understory plant, and respond with rapid growth to the increased light formed by a gap in the canopy. The sugar maple can grow comfortably in any type of soil, except sand.

Human influences have contributed to the decline of the Sugar Maple in many regions. Its role as a species of mature forests has led it to be replaced by more opportunistic species in areas where forests are cut over. The Sugar Maple also exhibits a greater susceptibility to pollution than other species of maple. Acid rain

Acid rain

Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation that is unusually acidic. It has harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure....
and soil acidification

Soil acidification

Soil acidification is the buildup of hydrogen cations, also called protons, in the soil. This happens when a proton donor is added to the soil. The donor can be an acid, such as nitric acid and sulfuric acid ....
are some of the primary contributing factors to maple decline

Maple decline

Maple decline is a vague term describing loss of vigor and dieback in forests or urban plantings of maple trees.It is not a disease or a syndrome, nor is it contagious or endemic....
. Also, the increased use of salt over the last several decades on streets and roads for de-icing purposes has decimated the sugar maple's role as a "street-front" tree.

In some parts of eastern North America, particularly near urbanized areas, the Sugar Maple is being displaced by the Norway Maple. The Norway Maple is also highly shade tolerant, but is considerably more tolerant of urban conditions resulting in the Sugar Maple's replacement in those areas heavily disturbed by human activities.

Cultivation and uses

The Sugar Maple is one of the most important Canadian trees

Trees of Canada

This list includes many of the common large shrubs of Canada, as well as the trees. Many of the trees on this list are introduced as ornamentals or for food and are not common in Canada....
, being (with Black Maple

Black Maple

Acer nigrum is a species of maple closely related to Acer saccharum , and treated as a subspecies of it by some authors, as Acer saccharum subsp....
) the major source of sap for making maple syrup

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees. In Canada and the United States it is most often eaten with waffles and pancakes. It is sometimes used as an ingredient in baking, the making of candy, preparing desserts, or as a sugar source and flavoring agent in making beer....
; Sugar Maple being regarded as slightly better. Many maples can be used as a sap source for maple syrup, but none of the others are considered as good as these two.

The wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
is one of the hardest and densest of the maples, and is prized for furniture and flooring. Bowling

Bowling

Bowling is a game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface either into objects called Bowling pin or to get close to a target ball....
alleys and bowling pins are both commonly manufactured from sugar maple. Trees with wavy wood grain, which can occur in curly, quilted and "birdseye maple

Birdseye maple

Bird's eye figure is a phenomenon that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably in maple . It has a distinctive pattern that resembles tiny, swirling eyes disrupting the smooth lines of wood grain....
" form, are especially valued. Maple is also the wood used for basketball courts, including the floors used by the NBA, and it is a popular wood for baseball bats, along with white ash

White Ash

Fraxinus americana is a species of Fraxinus native to eastern North America found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northern Florida, and southwest to eastern Texas....
. It is also widely used in the manufacture of musical instruments, such as the members of the violin family (sides and back) guitars (neck) and drum shells.

Canadian Maple, often referred to as "Canadian Hardrock Maple", is prized for pool cues, especially pool cue shafts, and the highest grades of this white wood are used by virtually all (both production line and custom hand-made) cue makers to make high-quality shafts. Some production-line cues will use lower-quality Canadian Maple wood with cosmetic issues (such as "sugar marks", which are (most often) light brown discolorations that are visible on the shaft, caused by sap from the wood. Great shaft wood has a very consistent grain, and no marks or discoloration. Sugar marks usually don't hurt anything and do not affect how the cue plays, but are not as high of quality as those without it.)

The Sugar Maple is a favorite street and garden tree, because it is easy to propagate and transplant, is fairly fast-growing, and has beautiful fall color. The shade and the shallow, fibrous root

Root

In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial root or aerating ....
s may interfere with grass growing under the trees. Deep well-drained loam

Loam

Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration , considered ideal for gardening and agricultural uses. Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to tillage than clay soils....
is the best rooting medium, although Sugar Maple can grow well on sandy soil which does not become excessively dry. Light (or loose) clay soils are also well known to support Sugar Maple. Poorly drained areas are unsuitable and the species is especially short-lived on flood-prone clay flats. Its salt tolerance is low and it is very sensitive to boron

Boron

Boron is a chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a trivalent metalloid element which occurs abundantly in the evaporite ores borax and ulexite....
.

Cultivars

'Apollo' - columnar.
'Arrowhead' - pyramidal crown.
'Astis' (Steeple) - heat-tolerant; good in southeastern USA. Oval crown.
'Bonfire' - fast-growing.
'Caddo' - naturally occurring southern ecotype. Great drought and heat tolerance, good choice for the Great Plains region.
'Columnare' ('Newton Sentry') - very narrow.
'Fall Fiesta' - tough-leaved, colorful in season, above-average hardiness.
'Goldspire' - columnar with yellow-orange fall color.
'Green Mountain' (PNI 0285) - durable foliage resists heat and drought; oval crown; very hardy (cold tolerance may match 'Unity').
'Legacy' - tough, vigorous and popular.
'Monumentale' - columnar.
'Sweet Shadow' - lacy foliage.
'Temple's Upright' - almost as narrow as 'Columnare.'
'Unity' - one of hardiest cultivars, from Manitoba
Manitoba

Manitoba is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 647,797 square kilometres and a population of 1,207,959 , with more than half located within the Winnipeg Capital Region ....
source.

Sugar Maple is the State Tree

List of U.S. state trees

This List of U.S. state trees includes official trees of the following U.S. state and U.S. possessions:...
of New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area....
, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
.

Sugar Maple

Ecology

Cultivation and uses

Gallery

See also

External links