Sugar Maple

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Sugar maple (Acer saccharum saccharum)

Paul Nelson

Other Common Name:

Hard Maple

Family:

Aceraceae (maples)

Description:

Sugar maple is a medium to large tree with a large, round crown.

Leaves are opposite, simple, 3–6 inches long, triangular overall, sometimes wider than long, usually 5-lobed but sometimes 3-lobed; lobes tapered to sharply pointed tips, sides of lobes often with secondary lobes or teeth; sinuses between main lobes U-shaped and forming angles less than 90 degrees; upper surface dark green; lower surface pale green, bluish or grayish green, or whitish, smooth except for tufts of hairs at the vein axils.

Bark is smooth and gray on young trees, later darker with grooves and irregular scaly plates.

Twigs are slender, shiny, smooth, green at first, reddish-brown later; pores conspicuous, pale; bud tips sharp-pointed.

Flowers April–May, with male and female flowers commonly on the same tree (sometimes on separate trees), borne on long, hairy, drooping stalks, appearing as the leaves are expanding.

Fruit matures August–October, reddish brown, samaras (winged fruits) usually in pairs, each wing ¾–1½ inches long.

Other Missouri Subspecies

The description above refers to sugar maple's nominate subspecies, Acer saccharum saccharum. Missouri has three other subspecies of sugar maple, too.

Black maple (A. saccharum nigrum) is named for its dark gray or black bark; leaf undersides yellowish green to green; uppersides rather dull; the sinuses between main lobes are wide or comparatively shallow, forming angles greater than 90 degrees, mostly 3-lobed. Leaf stems abruptly enlarged at the base. Compared to sugar maple, it is more tolerant of heat and drought; it is scattered in northern Missouri, uncommon south of the Missouri River. Some botanists have considered black maple a distinct species, Acer nigrum.
Southern sugar maple (A. saccharum floridanum) has rather small leaves (1¼ to 4 inches long), and lobes with blunt to rounded tips. Bark is beechlike: light gray, smooth, becoming shallowly furrowed or with scaly ridges with age. It is uncommon, occurring in southern and central Missouri. Missouri is at the edge of this subspecies' US range.
Schneck's sugar maple (A. saccharum schneckii) looks most similar to black maple (ssp. nigrum), but leaf undersides are not yellowish green. Leaves' lower surface is hairy along the veins. Lobes are tapered but bluntly pointed or even rounded at the tips, usually lacking secondary lobes or teeth. It is uncommon, occurring in eastern and southern Missouri.

Size:

Height: to 100 feet.

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Sugar Maple

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Sugar Maple Tree, Fall Color

In fall, the outermost leaves of sugar maples often turn color first, leaving the green and yellowish leaves in the protected parts.

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Multicolored leaves of sugar maple in fall

Sugar Maple Autumn Leaves

Sugar maple occurs in moist to dry upland forests, margins of glades, ledges and bases of bluffs, and stream banks.

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Orange sugar maple leaves backlit against blue sky

Sugar Maple Foliage, Fall Color

The sun shining through brilliant sugar maple leaves on a sunny October day can be dazzling.

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Hammering a tap into the trunk of a sugar maple

Tapping A Sugar Maple For Sap

Sugar maple is a main source for maple sugar and syrup. You can learn how to do this yourself!

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Sugar maple branch retaining dried, pale leaves in late winter

Dried Leaves on Sugar Maple in Late Winter

Young sugar maples often retain their dead, dried leaves throughout the winter instead of shedding them in the fall. It's easy to see them as you look through the winter woods. Not dropping the leaves is called marcescence, and it could help the young tree in several ways.

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Black Maple

Black maple (Acer saccharum nigrum)

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Photo of black maple tree in fall, view upward into branches

Black Maple in Fall

As a popular ornamental, sugar maple, including the black maple subspecies, is regularly used for landscaping.

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Photo of a black maple leaf showing yellow and orange fall color

Black Maple Leaf Fall Color

In black maple leaves, the sinuses between the main lobes are wide or comparatively shallow, forming angles greater than 90 degrees. The leaves are mostly 3-lobed.

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Photo of a black maple trunk, showing bark

Black Maple Bark

The black maple subspecies generally has darker bark than the nominate subspecies of sugar maple.

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Photo of a black maple, showing fall color, on a college campus

Black Maple Fall Color

Compared to sugar maple, black maple is more tolerant of heat and drought.

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Small sugar maple with fall yellow and green leaves in understory area

Green and Yellow Sugar Maple Foliage

Fall color in sugar maples varies according to growing conditions, weather patterns, stresses such as diseases, and the tree’s own genetics. This young tree is growing in a shady, protected area.

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Autumn woods showing a patchwork of different colors

Autumn Woods With Sugar Maples

The magnificent display of fall color in eastern North America is one of the most spectacular sights involving the plant kingdom. Sugar maples, with their bright reds, oranges, and yellows, play a starring role.

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Bright red and orange sugar maple leaves backlit against blue sky

Sugar Maple Leaves, Fall Color

Sugar maple is a popular ornamental tree, especially for its brilliant yellow, orange, and red fall foliage.

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Sugar maple in fall color, looking upward into canopy

Sugar Maple, Fall Color

Sugar maple is highly shade tolerant and attains its greatest size and density in the Mississippi and Missouri river hills where the soils are deep and less prone to fires.

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Autumn woods with sugar maples along a rocky shoreline

Autumn Woods With Sugar Maples Along Rocky Shoreline

Fall color is a big draw for Missouri tourism, just as it is in the New England and throughout the eastern hardwood forests.

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Sugar maples with orange fall color in a forest

Sugar Maples, Fall Color, In Forest

The sugar maple is one of the most valued trees in North America, for its sweet sap, its valuable hardwood, its shade on a hot summer day, and its brilliant color in fall.

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Photo of a sugar maple in early fall color

Sugar Maple Fall Color

Sugar maples are famous for their beautiful fall color.

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Photo of reddish orange sugar maple leaves in fall

Sugar Maple Leaves, Fall Color

Sugar maple is beloved for its brilliant yellow, orange, and red fall foliage.

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Sugar maple tree in Andrew County, showing red fall color on top and south side of tree, with rest of it green

Sugar Maple Turning Color in Fall

Sugar maples often turn color first on their tops and south-facing sides, where they receive direct sun, while the rest is still green.

Habitat and conservation:

Occurs in moist to dry upland forests, margins of glades, ledges and bases of bluffs, and stream banks. Sugar maple is highly shade tolerant and attains its greatest size and density in the Mississippi and Missouri river hills where the soils are deep and less prone to fires. As a popular ornamental, it is regularly used for landscaping. In New England, the sugar maple, a native species, is losing ground to the somewhat similar-looking Norway maple, introduced long ago from Eurasia, which better tolerates pollution, acid rain, and wintertime road salt treatments and reseeds more prolifically.

Distribution in Missouri:

Common statewide.

Human connections:

Native Americans had many medicinal uses for a tea made from the inner bark, and they taught European colonists how to tap the trees' sweet sap.

Sugar maple is a main source for maple sugar and syrup, a multibillion-dollar industry in North America.

Missourians can tap maple sap and make their own maple syrup. The best time to tap for most of Missouri is usually middle to late January or early February. See the links for "Maple Sugaring" below.

The wood is made into furniture, interior finishing, and much more.

When sugar maple grows under adverse conditions, it sometimes develops a pattern of numerous closely spaced buds that die off. Their tiny vestigial knots create a striking pattern of circles in the wood. Woodworkers call this birdseye maple, and it adds value to the lumber, which often becomes veneer for fine furniture.

Sugar maple is a popular ornamental tree, especially for its brilliant yellow, orange, and red fall foliage.

Fall color is a big draw for Missouri tourism, just as it is in the New England and throughout the eastern hardwood forests.

Ecosystem connections:

Seeds are eaten by songbirds, squirrels, and small rodents. Deer feed on young twigs, buds, and leaves.

Sugar maple is shade tolerant and often persists under the forest canopy as an understory tree, growing upward quickly should an opening occur. Sugar maples draw moisture upward from deep below the surface and exude it into drier soils closer to the surface; this benefits many plants growing nearby. In forests in cooler climates, sugar maple can form almost pure stands.

Trees provide homes to many kinds of animals, such as birds that nest in their boughs, and insects and spiders, which hide and overwinter in the crevices in the bark.