Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly know asmaples . The genus is placed in the soapberry tree family , Sapindaceae , along with lychee and horse chestnut . There are approximately132 species , most of which are native to Asia , with a number also look in Europe , northerly Africa , and North America .
Acer saccharum , the sugar maple , is aspecies of maples . It is native to the hardwood timber of easterly Canada and easterly United States . Its leaf is the national allegory of Canada .
The eastern United States from northerly Maine south to Tennessee and from eastern New England west to Minnesota and southern Missouri is home to most shekels maple . Others thrives in low , wooded bottomlands from Virginia in the south to Florida and west to Texas , in plant hardiness geographical zone 6 through 9 .
lolly maple is best recognise for being the primary generator of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage . autochthonal peoples , such as the Anishinaabeg , the Haudenosaunee , and the Wabanaki Confederacy , distinguish the procedure of tapping maple Tree to collect the sap . They would make modest surgical incision in the tree trunks and pull together the sap in birch bark containers . The sap was then boiled down to raise syrup , and further concentrated to make simoleons . Today , Canada and the northeastern United States are major producers of maple sirup .
Sugar maple tree can grow to a height of 40 meters ( 130 animal foot ) and has a heavy crest of leaves , which twist various shades of gold to undimmed red in autumn . The bark of a sugar maple is sluttish grizzly to embrown and is mostly bland when the tree is young , becoming more approximate and ridge as it eld .
Sugar maples have a tendency to color unevenly in fall . In some trees , all colors above can be seen at the same time . They also share a tendency with cherry-red maples for sure section of a mature tree diagram to change color weeks forrader of or behind the remainder of the tree . The leaf bud are pointy and brown - colourise . The recent year ’s growth branchlet are light-green , and turn dark brownness .
It also goes by the name “ rock maple , ” “ dough tree , ” “ unfermented maple , ” or , particularly in reference to the wood , “ hard maple , ” “ birds - eye maple , ” or “ curly maple , ” the last two being especially image lumber . The sugar maple is a long - lived tree , with individual often reaching ages of300 to 400 twelvemonth .
Acer saccharum is usually bedevil with the Norway maple ( Acer platanoides ) , which is not native to North America . However , the two species can be distinguished by several feature , let in the shape of their foliage , the color of their sap , and the grain of their bark .
The sugar maple is most well identified by clear sap in the leaf petiole ( the Norway maple has white sap ) , brown , sharp - tipped buds ( the Norway maple has blunt , green or reddish - purplish bud ) , and shaggy barque on older trees ( the Norway maple bark has small grooves ) . Also , the leaf lobe of the scratch maple have a more triangular shape , when to the squarish lobes of the Norway maple .
Sugar maple acquire across U.S. Department of Agriculture plant life hardiness zones 3 through 8 . In their aboriginal range , they look modal lower limit and maximal temperatures of subtraction 40 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit . They receive anywhere from 20 to 50 inches of rainfall and 1 inch to 12 1/2 pes of snow each year . Their develop time of year of less than three to near 10 months begins between the third week of March and the 2d week of June , with mediocre first frost date falling between September 1 and November 10 .
Other Characteristics of Sugar Maples
Disadvantages of Growing Sugar Maples
Cause of Fall Color Change
Sugar maples farewell get their fall coloring from anthocyanins they cook up late in the acquire season . As days castrate and temperature cool , foliage - stash away nutrients and energy move to the trees ’ root . Green chlorophyll belittle , and anthocyanins step in to forestall foliar sun impairment during the transfer . This switch is most obvious during the burgundy stage , when anthocyanins and chlorophyll commixture . Leaves become bright red when the chlorophyl fades whole .
