Sugar maple can tolerate virtually any soil type short of pure sand, but does not tolerate xeric or swampy conditions. Like other maples, its shade tolerance is manifested in its ability to germinate and persist under a closed canopy as an understory plant, and respond with rapid growth to the increased light formed by a gap in the canopy. Its shade tolerance is exceeded only by the striped maple, a smaller tree. Germination of sugar maple seed in temperatures above 50 ☏ (10 ☌) is rare to nonexistent.Īcer saccharum is among the most shade tolerant of large deciduous trees. Seed germination also requires extremely low temperatures, the optimal being just slightly above freezing, and no other known tree species has this property. In northern parts of its range, January temperatures average about −18 ☌ (0 ☏) and July temperatures about 16 ☌ (61 ☏) in southern parts, January temperatures average about 10 ☌ (50 ☏) and July temperatures average almost 27 ☌ (81 ☏). Sugar maple is native to areas with cooler climates and requires a hard freeze each winter for proper dormancy. The tree is long-lived, typically 200 years and occasionally as much as 300. The minimum seed-bearing age of sugar maple is about 30 years. Collection of sap for sugar is also not possible in the southern part of sugar maple's range as winter temperatures do not become cold enough. In the west, Tennessee represents the southern limit of its range and Missouri its southwestern limit. In the east, from Maryland southward, it is limited to the Appalachians. It is less common in the southern part of its range (USDA Zone 6) where summers are hot and humid there sugar maple is confined to ravines and moist flatlands. Due to its need for cold winters, sugar maple is mostly found north of the 42nd parallel in USDA growing zones 3–5. Pure stands are common, and it is a major component of the northern and Midwestern U.S. The sugar maple is an extremely important species to the ecology of many forests in the northern United States and Canada. Sugar maple-yellow birch forest, Jacques-Cartier National Park, Quebec, Canada Also, the leaf lobes of the sugar maple have a more triangular shape, in contrast to the squarish lobes of the Norway maple.Īlthough many people think a red sugar maple leaf is featured on the flag of Canada, the official maple leaf does not belong to any particular maple species although it perhaps most closely resembles a sugar maple leaf of all the maple species in Canada, the leaf on the flag was specially designed to be as identifiable as possible on a flag waving in the wind without regard to whether it resembled a particular species' foliage. The sugar maple is most easily 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-purple buds), and shaggy bark on older trees (the Norway maple bark has small grooves). The sugar maple can be confused with the Norway maple, which is not native to America but is commonly planted in cities and suburbs, and they are not closely related within the genus. The western American bigtooth maple ( Acer grandidentatum) is also treated as a variety or subspecies of sugar maple by some botanists. It is closely related to the black maple, which is sometimes included in this species, but sometimes separated as Acer nigrum. saccharum is slow, not taking place until the following spring when the soil has warmed and all frost danger is past. The seeds fall from the tree in autumn, where they must be exposed to 45 days of temperatures below 4 ☌ (39 ☏) to break their coating down. The fruit is a pair of samaras (winged seeds). The sugar maple will generally begin flowering when it is between 10 and 200 years old. The flowers are in panicles of five to ten together, yellow-green and without petals flowering occurs in early spring after 30–55 growing degree days. It may also be known as "rock maple", "sugar tree", "birds-eye maple", "sweet maple", "curly maple", or "hard maple", particularly when referring to the wood. Sugar maple is best known for being the primary source of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada, from Nova Scotia west through southern Quebec, central and southern Ontario to southeastern Manitoba around Lake of the Woods, and northcentral and northeastern United States, from Minnesota eastward to Maine and southward to northern Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri. Saccharodendron saccharum (Marshall) MoldenkeĪcer saccharum, the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae.
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