Sugar Maple

Order: Sapindales

Family: Sapindaceae

Genus: Acer

Species: A. saccharum

Identifying Characteristics:

- Deciduous tree

- 82-115 ft tall

- Leaves: 8-15 cm long and equally wide, moderately and triangularly lobed

- Twigs: glossy, not droopy

- buds: brown and sharp

- Flowers: yellow-green and without petals, occurs in early spring

-Bark: shaggy

Special Adaptions:

- Sugar Maples draw up water from lower soil layers and bring the water to the upper and dryer soils. This helps the tree itself and other plants growing around it.

- Shade tolerant: has the ability to tolerate low light levels. So it can still germinate under a closed canopy.

- can grow in any type of soil except sand

- Sap used for maple syrup

- the wood is the hardest and densest of all the maples