SUGAR MAPLE. HARD MAIM l 

 l i eharum Mai 



The Maple Famil> 



Baail and Habitat: A large tree, 00-100 feet tall, with a trunk 

 diameter of 2-4 feet; stout upright branches forming a broad round- 

 lopped or oval crown when young and branched low down, In the forest 

 producing a tall clean trunk with ■ narrow open dome-shaped crown 

 with dense foliage. Prefers rich, moist soils In valleys and along stream 



arses, and moist rocky slopes; commonly grows in mixture with 

 ch and hemlock forming a very shady forest with little undergrowth. 



Leaves and Bods: Leaves opposite, simple, 3-6 inches Long and of 



ut same width, 3-6-lobed, the lobes very coarsely wavy-toothed, and 

 pointed, the indentations rounded at the base, heart-shaped at the DS 

 thin but firm, dark green above, paler and smooth beneath, turning 

 yellow, orange, scarlet and crimson in autumn. Petioles long, slender, 

 often reddish. Buds small, reddish-brown, smooth or somewhat hairy 

 toward the top, the terminal bud about % inch long-, the lateral bu<t> 

 opposite, smaller, closely pressed against the twigs. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers appearing in May with the leaves, 

 in many-flowered clusters, some flowers fertile, some sterile, in separate 

 clusters on the same or different trees, greenish yellow; calyx bell- 

 shaped, ~>-lobed; corolla 0; stamens 7-8, borne upon the calyx rim; ova 

 greenish, hairy. Fruit a "key'* composed of a pair of brown, equal 

 wings, each about 1 inch long, slightly divergent, and bearing a single, 

 2-lobed pod in the center, 1-seeded. ripening in late summer, germina- 

 ting the following spring. 



Bark. Twigs and Wood: Hark on young twigs and limbs smooth, 

 pale brown or gray, deeply furrowed, often more or less shaggy by 

 the separation of long, thick plates somewhat like the bark of the 

 shaghark hickory. The wood is heavy, hard, strong, close grained, tough, 

 light brown tinged with red, with thin, lighter colored sapwood, durable, 

 capable of a fine polish; much used for the interior trim of buildings, 

 flooring, furniture, tool handles, tooth picks, musical instruments, etc. 



Distribution in the State: The sugar maple does not occur naturally 

 in Nebraska, the nearest approach of its natural range being central 

 Iowa. However, the species is planted rather commonly in eastern Ne- 

 braska where it does not do very well. The commonest exotic maple 

 planted in this state is the Norway maple, a tree which looks much like 

 the sugar maple and which often passes for the latter. The Norway 

 maple is somewhat more hardy in our dry, hot summers than the sugar 

 maple and so it is the better tree to plant. 



Rpmark>: This tree furnishes the sap from which maple syrup and 

 maple sugar are manufactured. Because of these delightful saccharine 

 luctfl and the wide uses of the wood the sugar maple is one of the 

 most valuable broad-leaved trees in North America. The plain wood 

 and the peculiar 'bird'.- eye", "blister" and "curly" maple, all products 

 almost exclusively of this species, command fancy prices in the wood 

 mark- I - C the world. 



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