Sugar/Hard Maple

TREES

GENUS/SPECIES

Acer saccharum

FAMILY

Aceraceae

SYNONYMS

Common: Hard Maple, Black Maple

DISTRIBUTION

Eastern US

Minnesota eastward to Maine
Maine southwestward to W North Carolina
W North Carolina westward to E Kansas
E Kansas northward through E Iowa to Minnesota

Human Product Number - 110

Veterinary Product Number - 110

Comments

Sugar maple is widely planted as an ornamental. It likes rich, well-drained soils. It is tapped for its sweet sap from which syrup and sugar are made. The leaf is the inspiration for the Canadian maple leaf emblem. Flowers form in the spring and the paired seeds ripen during the summer. Closely related species include the black maple (Acer nigrum) of the Midwest, the bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum) of the Rocky Mountain area, the southern sugar maple (Acer barbatum), and the chalk (whitebark) maple (Acer leucoderme).