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Native Trees of Canada 



The bark on young trees is smooth and sHghtly furrowed. As the tree becomes 

 older the bark ridges curl until on large trees the bark has a ploughed appearance, 

 with smooth places between ridges. 



The leaves, as is the case with all maples, come out in pairs opposite each other. 

 There are five main lobes. The sinuses, or open spaces between the lobes, are 

 rounded, and not narrow and pointed as with other eastern maples. The upper 

 surface is dark green and the under surface lighter. In the autumn the leaves turn 

 crimson, scarlet, yellow or orange in colour. 



The twigs, like the leaves, come out in pairs on opposite sides of the branch 

 and are reddish-brown in colour. The winter buds are narrow, sharp-pointed, and 



SUGAR MAPLE 



/leer Sa ccA a ru m 



brown, a feature by which the tree is readily distinguished from the other maples. 

 The fruits or keys develop from the end of the twig while those of the red maple and 

 silver maple come from the side. 



The sugar maple requires moist, rich soil, for its best development and will not 

 do well on poor soil. Tt is found in pure stands or mixed with such other hardwoods 

 as beech, oak, elm, basswood, and hickory. It is a slow-growing and long-lived 

 tree. Its ability to endure heavy shading v/hen yotmg gives it an advantage over 

 many other trees, and enables it to estabUsh itself under conditions that they could 

 not endure. 



