Acer saccharum
Sugar Maple, Rock Maple, Hard Maple
3
Eastern North America
Upright, with oval head, dense and rounded.
60-75 (up to 100) feet tall with a spread of 30-60 feet
Flowers are greenish yellow, borne in a pendulous corymb
Early April
Leaves are opposite, simple, 3-6 inches wide, 3-5 lobed, pointed, slightly coarsely toothed, with narrow and deep sinuses.
Fall color is a brilliant yellow to orange-red.
Buds are sharp-pointed, finely imbricate, usually in 3 feets at the terminal, the middle bud being twice as large as the axillaries.
Bark is medium gray with black, soot-like areas on the upper half of the branches the trunk being divided into flat, platy scales.
Fruit is a samara, 1-1˝ inches long, with the wings slightly spreading, ripening in September
 
 

  • Green Mountain' - orange and scarlet fall color and tolerates dry soils
  • 'Columnare' (a.k.a. 'Newton Sentry') - columnar form
  • 'Monumentale' - no central leader and develops a broadly vase-shaped form with age.
  • 'Newton Sentry' - main central leader, 50 feet tall, yet only 12 feet wide
  • 'Glohosum' - dwarf, dense, rounded form
  • 'Temple's Upright' - Without a central leader but still upright in habit, 50 feet tall and in feet wide.

Yep, this is the one that gives us that delicious maple syrup for our pancakes or French toast. It is a magnificent tree that forms harder wood than other maples and is also about the slowest growing of the bunch too. You can't beat the bright, Burning orange fall color either.

However, for most home landscapes, this is probably not the tree to plant. It becomes a very large tree over the decades that will overwhelm most urban-suburban lots. Its root system does not like to be restricted by sidewalks, driveways and houses and it is considered intolerant of pollution too.

Enjoy them in the wild.

 

 

 
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