The Trees of Vermont 1(19 



ACERACEAE 



Sugar Maple. Rock Maple 



Acer saccharum Marsh. [Acer saccharinum Wang.] 



Habit. — A stately tree 60-100 feet in height, with a trunk diameter 

 of 3-4 feet; in the open forming stout, upright branches near the 

 ground, in forests making remarkably clean trunks to a good height ; 

 the crown is a broad, round-topped dome. 



Leaves. — Opposite, simple, 3-5 inches long and broad ; usually 5- 

 lobed (sometimes 3-lobed), the lobes sparingly wavy-toothed, the 

 sinuses broad and rounded at the base ; thin and firm ; opaque, dark 

 green above, lighter and glabrous beneath, turning yellow and red in 

 autumn ; petioles long, slender. 



Flowers. — April-May, with the leaves ; polygamo-monoecious or 

 dioecious ; on thread-like, hairy pedicels in nearly sessile corymbs ; 

 greenish yellow ; calyx campanulate, 5-lobed ; corolla ; stamens 7-8 ; 

 ovary hairy. 



Fruit. — September-October, germinating the following spring ; 

 paired samaras, glabrous, with wings about 1 inch long, diverging 

 slightly. 



Winter-buds.— Small, acute, red-brown, glabrous or somewhat 

 pubescent toward the apex, the terminal ^ inch long, the lateral 

 smaller, appressed. 



Bark. — Twigs smooth, pale brown, becoming gray and smooth on 

 the branches ; old trunks dark gray, deeply furrowed, often cleaving up 

 at one edge in long, thick plates. Plate VII. 



Wood. — Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, durable, light 

 brown, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. Page 223. 



Distribution. — Found throughout Vermont. 



Habitat. — Prefers moist, rich soil in valleys and uplands and 

 moist, rocky slopes. 



Notes. — The sugar maple is everywhere in Vermont, but it 

 thrives best on the cool and rocky uplands. It can be distinguished 

 by its light gray bark which has large, white patches on the younger 

 branches or by its broad, five-lobed leaves which have shallow, rounded, 

 sinuses. In the sugar-bushes of Vermont, trees three and four centu- 

 ries old not infrequently are found. Besides its value as a sugar tree, 

 its timber is hard and durable. The "curled" and "bird's-eye" maple 

 are unusual forms of this species, produced by a peculiar curling of the 

 fibers. 



