THE SUGAR MAPLE OR ROCK MAPLE 



TO one whose youth was spent in a sugar-making region this Maple must always 

 recall fond memories of the old "sap places" where, in the uncertain weather 

 of early spring, the trickling juices of the trees were converted into delicious 

 sugar. This qualification of the species distinguishes it from all the other eastern Maples 

 and gives it a unique position even to-day, when maple syrup rather than sugar is the 

 chief product into which the sap is converted. This Maple is however, also of extraor- 

 dinary value as a source of lumber and fuel, and is perhaps the most generally planted of 

 all our shade trees. 



The Sugar Maple is easily distinguished at any season of the year. In winter the 

 opposite branches, tipped with sharply pointed conical buds, are distinct and character- 

 istic. In spring the beautiful yellow-green blossoms in pendent clusters are very different 

 from those of any of the other Maples. In summer the broad leaves with their rounded 

 sinuses, without the milky stem- juices of the Norway Maple, enable one to identify the 

 species at a glance. And in autumn the characteristic key-fruits and brilliant yellow, 

 orange and red leaves serve a similar purpose. In the woods the trees grow straight and 

 tall, often attaining a great height and a diameter of several feet. In open situations they 

 develop a wide expanse of foliage, which serves to make them ideal for shade. The bark 

 on young trees is rather smooth, but on the old trees it is deeply furrowed with vertical 

 ridges and is of a characteristic deep gray color. 



The Sugar Maple is also commonly called the Rock Maple and the Hard Maple. 

 The typical form is found throughout the northeastern region of North America, being 

 replaced in the more southern States by a variety having three principal lobes in the leaves. 

 While the blossoms appear in earliest spring the fruits do not ripen until autumn, and 

 occasionally when the season has been dry they hang upon the trees until winter, when 

 they furnish abundant food for the grosbeaks and other winter birds. 



In the far West sugar has been successfully made from the Broad-leaved K iple 

 which is a splendid tree in the forests of Oregon. It has a broad leaf with rounded 

 sinuses that are suggestive of those of the Sugar Maple. The fruits do not mature until 

 autumn, although they reach full size by the end of June. 



There are various other trees formerly regarded as varieties of the Sugar Maple 

 which are now held to be distinct species. One of these is the Florida Sugar Maple (Acer 

 Floridanum) found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Another is the Black Maple (A. 

 nigrum) widely distributed through the North and frequently replacing the typical Sugar 

 Maple in the West: you may know it by its orange colored twigs. Still another is called 

 Acer leucoderme and is found locally in the South, while the Large-toothed Sugar Maple 

 (A. grandidentatum) is found locally in the far West. 



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