Acer saccharum
Sugar Maple, Hard Maple, or Rock Maple
(Aceraceae - Maple Family)
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FEATURES
- Form
- large shade tree
- maturing to 60' tall by 40' wide in urban areas, but much larger under more
favorable conditions
- upright oval growth habit in youth, becoming upright rounded with age
- medium growth rate
- Culture
- full sun to partial sun (partial shade tolerant in youth)
- prefers cool, moist summers in deep, well-drained, moist, rich, slightly
acidic soils, but is often relegated to more adverse conditions in the urban landscape
- not tolerant of prolonged heat, excessive drought, or thin soils, and not at all tolerant of soil compaction, soil grade change (backfill over roots), flooding, or excessive root damage
- propagation of the species is by seeds or rooted stem cuttings; propagation of cultivars is primarily by budding onto seedling understocks, but also by rooted stem cuttings
- Maple Family, with several potential diseases (including Verticillium Wilt, causing branch dieback, tree decline, or death, and Cottony Maple Scale, causing whiteness to the undersides of the foliage) and pests (including Bladder Gall, causing bullet-like projections on the leaf undersides); most of the numerous biotic stresses come into play when the tree is already under abiotic stress
- abundantly available with many cultivars, in ball and burlap form
- pruning at anytime from mid-Winter through mid-Spring will result in light to profuse "bleeding" of sap from the wounds, while can be annoying, but will not harm the tree
- Foliage
- opposite, medium- to dark green, having palmate veination, with the blades about 5" long and 5" wide on 3" petioles, casting a dense shade due to their size
- the stereotypical Maple-leaf foliage (as shown on the reverse of a
Canadian penny) is five-lobed, with the basal two lobes smaller than the upper three, with each of the three upper lobes incised, but not serrated
- fall color often consists of a mixture of bright yellow, orange, and/or red, with this multicolored array often transitioning from one color to the next, and usually present as a prolonged and striking Autumn coloration
- foliage is sometimes subject to leaf tatter under high Spring and Summer winds, and leaf scorch under dry Summer or urban stress conditions
- Flowers
- pendulous chartreuse inflorescences occur before the foliage in April,
swaying in the breeze, and giving the tree a very fine-textured lime-colored appearance in early Spring
- Fruits
- paired medium-green samaras have parallel wings, occuring in pendulous clusters from the stems, and maturing to brown fruits in October
- Twigs
- brown-red to brown and lenticeled, with small dark brown to gray buds in Winter
- Trunk
- light brown to light gray branches become brown, gray, or very black
trunks with age, fissuring in youth to yield large, flared, irregular plates with age,
sometimes with orange interiors in extreme age
- much variability exists within the species as to bark appearance (texture, color, and degree of plate flare)
- ID Summary
- opposite, five-lobed, dark-green, palmately-veined leaves have acute and incised lobes, with lime-colored pendulous, fine-textured inflorescences in early Spring before the foliage, resulting in fruits having parallel wings on the paired samaras
- the growth habit is upright oval and slowly becoming more rounded with age, on a large shade tree known for its dense foliage and spectacular fall color of yellows, oranges, and reds
USAGE
- Function
- shade, specimen, or Autumn accent tree in the landscape, and also a climax forest hardwood tree in Northeastern North America
- often incorrectly used as a street tree, which is a poor choice due to its eventual large size, surface roots, urban stress intolerance, and host of potential diseases and pests
- Texture
- medium texture in foliage and medium-fine texture when bare
- very thick density in foliage and thick density when bare
- Assets
- dense Summer shade
- brilliant fall color that often has a sequence of different warm colors
- symmetrical upright oval outline
- platy semi-ornamental bark in old age
- subtle wildlife attraction (squirrels and birds will eat the samaras in Winter)
- shade-tolerant in youth during establishment
- important forest tree for its timber (wood is fine-grained and yields a wavy pattern when cut into boards for furniture or floors) and for its sap that can be made into maple syrup
- Liabilities
- shallow root system surfaces with age
- not urban tolerant, especially to root disturbance, soil compaction, soil backfill, and excessive heat and drought
- dense shade with age slowly kills turfgrass beneath the tree, unless it is significantly limbed up or thinned with age
- leaf scorch, leaf tatter, and branch dieback in hot, dry summers
- often a choice tree of Sapsuckers, causing cosmetic damage to the bark
- somewhat prone to Verticillium wilt, and other diseases and pests
- slow establishment in urban conditions
- sometimes develops frost cracks in Winter
- Habitat
- zones 4 to 8
- native to the Eastern United States and Southern Canada, often found growing best in the relatively cool, moist conditions of Canada, New England, and Appalachia
SELECTIONS
- Alternates
- large shade trees (Betula nigra, Corylus colurna, Fraxinus americana, Quercus rubra, Zelkova serrata, etc.)
- shade trees with excellent fall color (Acer rubrum 'October Glory', Betula lenta, Fraxinus pennsylvanica 'Cimmaron', Nyssa sylvatica, Quercus coccinea, Ulmus parvifolia, etc.)
- Variants
- Acer saccharum 'Green Mountain' - the standard cultivar for heat and drought tolerance, with thicker waxy leaves (resulting in less leaf scorch and less leaf tatter); yellow fall color predominates, with elements of red and orange; 70' tall by 45' wide
- Acer saccharum 'Legacy' - even better heat and drought tolerance and leaf thickness, having red, orange, and/or yellow fall color, maturing at 50' tall by 35' wide; also has better humidity tolerance and a fuller crown at maturity
- Acer saccharum 'Wright Brothers' - grows twice as rapidly as the species form, having a more pyramidal shape and mixed fall color
NOTES
- Translation
- Acer is the Latin name for Maple.
- saccharum is Greek for sugar, referring to the relative abundance of sugar in this tree's sap.
- Purpose
- Sugar Maple is a stately large shade tree with excellent fall color.
- Summary
- Acer saccharum is the national tree of Canada, and climax forest tree in New England, where it is still tapped on a large scale for maple syrup production, and also prized for its hard wood used in furniture and as flooring, and also a common shade tree in Eastern North America, valued for its grand appearance and excellent fall color.
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