Fifty Common Trees of New York 55 



THE MAPLES 



Maples are a very important group of forest trees in New York State. 

 Of the nine maples occurring east of the Rocky Mountains, six are found 

 in the State. In the order of their abundance, they are sugar maple, 

 red maple, silver maple, mountain maple, striped maple, ash-leaved ma- 

 ple. The first three only are important timber trees. 



Maples as a group are readily distinguishable from other trees by the 

 opposite arrangement of buds, leaves, and twigs together with the char- 

 acteristically shaped simple maple leaf (the ash-leaved maple as an ex- 

 ception has a compound leaf). The fruit of the maple group is also very 

 distinctive. They are without exception winged-seeds borne in pairs, 

 and popularly known as maple keys. 



The mountain maple and the striped maple are very small trees or 

 often shrub-like, growing as an understory at higher elevations through- 

 out the State. The ash-leaved maple is a medium-sized forest tree 

 found in moist locations at lower elevations but very common and of 

 little commercial importance. It is the only maple that has a compound 

 leaf. 



The. three important maples of the State, sugar, red, and silver, are 

 divided by lumbermen into two groups, the hard and the soft maples. 

 The sugar maple is classed as a hard maple due to that characteristic of 

 the wood, while both the red and silver maples are classed as soft maples 

 to denote that characteristic of their wood. 



The foliage of both the sugar and red maple is particularly brilliant 

 in the fall, and for that reason these species are often planted as shade 

 trees. 



Two important maples from Europe are worthy of mention because 

 of the frequency with which they are planted in the State for shade and 

 ornament. These are the Norway maple and the sycamore maple. 



