Sugar Maple, or Acer saccharum, is the state tree in Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire -- and it was favored by the ancient Romans, too, who used shafts of the wood to make their spears. The sugar maple is particularly beloved nowadays for its sweet sap, which has been poured liberally atop many a breakfast pancake. Each spring, a sugar maple produces 1 to 8 pints of sap. It can take forty pints of sap to make one pint of maple syrup.
The bark is gray and dark with long, flat ridges that curl out in one direction. It's leaves are wide with a U-shaped space between two lobes and three main veins with smooth edges. The leaves grow in opposite pairs on the branch and it's buds are reddish-brown and pointy.
http://www.grownative.org/image/plantlib/DETA-214.jpg http://www.huntersville.org/interactive%20ordinance/IMAGES/SugarMaple.jpg
Growth habit: Tree, Shrub
Habitat type: Temperate Coniferous Forests
Habitat: Native to hardwood forests of
Map of where species is found
Plant life form: Perennial
Rare or Common: Common, although, edge diminishing due to warming average temperatures
Invasive: No
Active growth period: spring and summer
Flower color: Yellow
Cultivation:
Interesting facts:
Native Range
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Acer_saccharum.PNG
Bibliography
Acer saccharum Marsh. var. saccharum. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. (cited 2008 Feb 18). Available from: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ACSAS
Acer saccharum. The
Conservation Science >Nearctic. World Wildlife Foundation. (cited 2008 Feb 18). Available from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/nearctic.cfm
Richard M. Godman, Harry W. Yawney, and Carl H. Tubbs: Acer saccharum Marsh. (cited 2008 Feb 18). Available from: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/acer/saccharum.htm
Acer saccharum. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (cited 2008 Feb 18). Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_maple