Acer saccharum - Sugar Maple or Rock Maple (Aceraceae) ------Acer saccharum is a stately shade tree with excellent autumn color. Sugar Maple is a common shade tree in USAGE the Eastern U.S., the national tree of Canada, and a Function climax forest tree in New England, where it is -shade, specimen, or autumn accent tree (but not a good sometimes tapped for maple syrup. It is also prized for street tree, due to size, surface roots, and urban its high quality wood in furniture making. intolerance) Texture FEATURES -medium texture in foliage and medium-fine when bare Form -thick density in foliage and when bare -large deciduous tree Assets -maturing at 60' tall x 40' wide in -dense summer shade urban areas, but larger under more -brilliant autumn color that often has a sequence of favorable conditions such as the different bright colors northeastern forests of the U.S. -platy bark in old age -upright oval growth habit in -wildlife attraction (squirrels and birds will eat samaras youth, becoming more upright in winter) rounded with age -shade tolerant (in youth) -medium growth rate -symmetrical winter branching Culture Liabilities -full sun to full shade, but best in full sun -shallow root system surfaces with age -prefers cool, moist summers in deep, well-drained, -leaf scorch, leaf tatter, and branch dieback in hot, dry moist, slightly acidic soils summers -not tolerant of extreme heat, drought, thin soils, or soil -prone to Verticillium wilt compaction -sometimes has frost cracks but not as severe as Norway -prone to branch dieback (due to drought or Verticillium Maple wilt) under stressful conditions -often a choice of sapsuckers but recovers from the -abundantly available with many cultivars, usually in winter bird wounding B&B form -slow establishment in urban conditions Foliage -not urban tolerant, especially to root disturbance, soil -opposite arrangement, compaction, or soil backfill with medium green to dark Habitat green leaves -Zones 4 to 8 -the stereotypical Maple -Native to Eastern leaf foliage (as shown on U.S. and Southern the reverse of a Canadian Canada coin) -5-lobed, the basal 2 SELECTIONS smaller than the upper 3, Alternates with each of the 3 upper -large shade trees lobes incised but not (Betula nigra, serrated Corylus colurna, -palmate venation, with blades about 5" long and wide Fraxinus -the leaves are often slightly curved downwards when americana, viewed on a horizontal plane (contrasts with the flatter Quercus rubra, appearance of the Norway Maple) Zelkova, etc.) -dense foliage on twigs -shade trees with -autumn color yellow, orange, and/or red, sometimes excellent autumn color (Acer rubrum October Glory®, undergoing this transition sequence during prolonged Betula lenta, Fraxinus pennsylvanica Cimmaron®, autumn coloration, usually striking due to the size of Nyssa sylvatica, Quercus coccinea, Ulmus parvifolia, mature trees etc.) Flowers Cultivars – Variants – Related species -pendulous inflorescences in Apr. (before the foliage), -Acer saccharum 'Green Mountain' - the standard cultivar yellow-green, waving in the breeze, and giving the tree for heat and drought tolerance, with thicker waxy leaves a very fine-textured lime appearance in early spring (resulting in less leaf scorch and less leaf tatter); yellow Fruits autumn color predominates, with elements of red and -2 samaras (each 1.5" long) per stalk, having orange; 70' x 45' parallel wings -Acer saccharum 'Legacy' - even better heat and drought -medium green, in pendulous clusters from tolerance and leaf thickness, having red, orange, and/or the stems, maturing to brown in Oct. yellow autumn color, maturing at 50' x 35'; also has Twigs better humidity tolerance and a fuller crown at maturity -brown-red and lenticeled, with small dark -Acer saccharum 'Wright Brothers' - grows twice as brown or gray buds in winter rapidly as the species form, having a more pyramidal Trunk shape and mixed autumn color -light brown to light gray branches becoming brown, gray, or black trunks, fissuring in youth to yield large, irregular plates with age, sometimes with orange interiors. Larger plates on the trunk distinguish this species from the similar Norway Maple, whose bark is more furrowed than platy