Acer saccharum
Sugar maple | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Sapindaceae |
Genus: | Acer |
Section: | Acer sect. Acer
|
Series: | Acer ser. Saccharodendron |
Species: | A. saccharum
|
Binomial name | |
Acer saccharum | |
Native range of Acer saccharum
| |
Synonyms[2] | |
|
Acer saccharum, the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States.[3] Sugar maple is best known for being the primary source of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage.[4] It may also be called "rock maple," "sugar tree," "sweet maple," or, particularly in reference to the wood, "hard maple,"[5] "birds-eye maple," or "curly maple," the last two being specially figured lumber.[6][7]
Description
Acer saccharum is a deciduous tree normally reaching heights of 25–35 m (80–115 ft),[8][9] and exceptionally up to 45 m (150 ft).[10] A 10-year-old tree is typically about 5 m (20 ft) tall. As with most trees, forest-grown sugar maples form a much taller trunk and narrower canopy than open-growth ones.[citation needed]
The
The
The sugar maple can be confused with the
-
Sugar Maple terminal bud
-
Bark
-
Flowers in spring
-
A pair of samaras
-
Closeup of autumn foliage
-
Seasonal leaf color change
Ecology
The sugar maple is an extremely important species to the ecology of many forests in the northern United States and Canada. Pure stands are common, and it is a major component of the northern and Midwestern U.S. hardwood forests. Due to its need for cold winters, sugar maple is mostly found north of the 42nd parallel in USDA growing zones 3–5. It is less common in the southern part of its range (USDA Zone 6) where summers are hot and humid; there sugar maple is confined to ravines and moist flatlands. In the east, from Maryland southward, it is limited to the Appalachians. In the west, Tennessee represents the southern limit of its range and Missouri its southwestern limit. Collection of sap for sugar is also not possible in the southern part of sugar maple's range as winter temperatures do not become cold enough.[citation needed]
The minimum seed-bearing age of sugar maple is about 30 years. The tree is long-lived, typically 200 years and occasionally as much as 300.
Sugar maple is native to areas with cooler climates and requires a hard freeze each winter for proper dormancy. In northern parts of its range, January temperatures average about −18 °C (0 °F) and July temperatures about 16 °C (61 °F); in southern parts, January temperatures average about 10 °C (50 °F) and July temperatures average almost 27 °C (81 °F).[18] Seed germination also requires extremely low temperatures, the optimal being just slightly above freezing, and no other known tree species has this property. Germination of sugar maple seed in temperatures above 50 °F (10 °C) is rare to nonexistent.
Acer saccharum is among the most
Sugar maples are deeper-rooted than most maples and 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.[19]
The mushroom Pholiota squarrosoides is known to decay the logs of the tree.[20]
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 and soil acidification are some of the primary contributing factors to maple decline. Also, the increased use of salt over the last several decades on streets and roads for deicing purposes has decimated the sugar maple's role as a street tree.[21][22]
In some parts of New England, 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. In addition, Norway maple produces much larger crops of seeds, allowing it to out-compete native species.
Cultivation and uses
Maple syrup and other food use
The sugar maple is one of the most important
The samaras which are the seeds can be soaked, and—with their wings removed—boiled, seasoned, and roasted to make them edible.[25] The young leaves and inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked.[26]
Timber
The
Canadian maple, often referred to as "Canadian hardrock maple", is prized for
Urban planting
Sugar maple was a favorite street and park tree during the 19th century because it was easy to propagate and transplant, is fairly fast-growing, and has beautiful fall color. As noted above, however, it proved too delicate to continue in that role after the rise of automobile-induced pollution and was replaced by
Cultivars
- 'Apollo' – columnar
- 'Arrowhead' – pyramidal crown
- 'Astis' ('Steeple') – heat-tolerant, good in southeastern USA, oval crown
- 'Bonfire' – fast growing
- 'Caddo' – naturally occurring southern ecotype or subspecies, from Southwestern Oklahoma, great drought and heat tolerance, good choice for the Great Plains region[31]
- '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, above-average hardiness
- 'Inferno' – possibly the hardiest cultivar, with more red fall color than 'Lord Selkirk' or 'Unity'
- 'Legacy' – tough, vigorous and popular
- 'Lord Selkirk' – very hardy, more upright than other northern cultivars
- 'Monumentale' – columnar
- 'September Flare' - very hardy, early orange-red fall color
- 'Sweet Shadow' – lacy foliage
- 'Temple's Upright' – almost as narrow as 'Columnare'
- 'Unity' – very hardy, from Manitoba, slow steady growth
Use by Native Americans
The Mohegan use the inner bark as a cough remedy, and the sap as a sweetening agent, and to make maple syrup following the introduction of metal cookware by Europeans.[32]
Big trees
The United States
In popular culture
The sugar maple is the state tree of the US states of New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
It is depicted on the
References
- . Retrieved 2022-11-06.
- ^ "Acer saccharum Marshall — The Plant List". www.theplantlist.org.
- ^ "Acer saccharum". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
- ^ "Sugar Maple Tree Facts: Sugar Maple Tree Growing Information". gardeningknowhow.com. 28 December 2015. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
- ^ Meier, Eric. "Hard Maple". The Wood Database. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
- ISBN 978-0-08-046018-5.
- ^ Michigan State Horticultural Society (1900). Annual Report. Michigan State Horticultural Society. pp. 283–.
- ^ a b "Acer saccharum". Northern Ontario Plant Database.
- ^ "Acer saccharum". Oklahoma Biological Survey. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
- ^ "GSMNP tall trees". Nativetreesociety.org. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- ISBN 978-0-7923-7322-3.
- ^ https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/acer-grandidentatum
- ^ https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/acegra/all.html
- ^ https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/acer/barbatum.htm
- ^ https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ACFL
- ^ "Norway Maple – New York Invasive Species Information". Retrieved 2020-05-26.
- ^ "Invasive Species Identification Sheet - Norway Maple". Natural Resources Conservation Service Connecticut. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
- ^ Godman, Richard M.; Yawney, Harry W.; Tubbs, Carl H. (1990). "Acer saccharum". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Hardwoods. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – via Southern Research Station.
- S2CID 38275842.
- ^ Halama, Marek (January 2011). "First record of the rare species Pholiota squarrosoides (Agaricales, Strophariaceae) in southwestern Poland". Polish Botanical Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
- ^ "Sugar Maple Faces Extinction Threat". The New York Times. 7 December 1986. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
- ^ Siek, Stephanie V. "Sugar Maples Fall Victim to Road Salt". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
- ^ a b Heilingmann, Randall B. "Hobby Maple Syrup Production (F-36-02)". Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2002-09-17.
- ^ "Sugar Maple: Nebraska Forest Service" (PDF). Nebraska Forest Service. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
- OCLC 244766414.
- OCLC 799792.
- ^ Daniel L. Cassens. "Hard or sugar maple" (PDF). Purdue University:Purdue Extension.
- ^ a b "Sugar Maple Plant Guide" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
- ^ Kaufman, David (8 October 2020). "Lenny Kravitz Designs a Showstopping Piano for Steinway & Sons". Architectural Digest.
- ^ "Auburn University Entomology and Plant Pathology | Greenstriped Mapleworm". Auburn University Entomology and Plant Pathology. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
- ^ "3.1.2: Medium Deciduous Trees — Acer saccharum 'Caddo'". Putting Down Roots: Landscape Guidelines for the Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Trees in Central Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20 – via okPLANTtrees.
Fortunately for Oklahoma, a subspecies (believed to be an ecotype) of the Sugar Maple was discovered in the southwest part of the state that is specifically adapted to our hot summers and drying winds.
Putting Down Roots: Landscape Guidelines for the Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Trees in Central Oklahoma at the Wayback Machine (archived 2012-11-02) - ^ Tantaquidgeon, Gladys 1972 Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians. Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Historical Commission Anthropological Papers No. 3 (p. 69, 128)
- ^ "Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) - Champion Tree, National Forests, Massachusetts". americanforests.org. 15 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
- ^ "Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) - Champion Tree, National Forests, Connecticut". americanforests.org. 15 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
- Horton, J. L.; Hart, S.C. (1998). "Hydraulic lift: a potentially important ecosystem process". Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 13 (6): 232–235. PMID 21238277.
- Canham, C. D. (1989). "Different Responses to Gaps Among Shade-Tolerant Tree Species". Ecology. 70 (3): 548–550. JSTOR 1940200.
- Brisson, J., Bergeron, Y., Bouchard, A., & Leduc, A. (1994). Beech-maple dynamics in an old-growth forest in southern Quebec, Canada. Ecoscience (Sainte-Foy) 1 (1): 40–46.
- Duchesne, L.; Ouimet, R.; Houle, D. (2002). "Basal Area Growth of Sugar Maple in Relation to Acid Deposition, Stand Health, and Soil Nutrients". Journal of Environmental Quality. 31 (5): 1676–1683. PMID 12371186.
Further reading
- Melvyn Tyree. "Maple sap exudation: How it happens" (PDF). Maple Syrup Journal. 4 (1): 10–11.
- Damián Cirelli; Richard Jagels; Melvin T. Tyree (2008). "Toward an improved model of maple sap exudation: the location and role of osmotic barriers in sugar maple, butternut and white birch". Tree Physiology. 28 (8). Victoria, Canada: Heron Publishing: 1145–1155. PMID 18519246.
- "North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual". Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 856. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
External links
- Media related to Acer saccharum at Wikimedia Commons
- Common Trees of Pennsylvania
- UI Plants: Woody Ornamentals (sugar maple)
- Acer saccharum at Ohio State Horticulture & Crop Sciences
- Acer saccharum images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
- Winter ID Pictures
- Historic Photos and Technical Reports Documenting Sugar Maple Research, from digital archives at the University of Vermont.
- Interactive Distribution Map for Acer saccharum