#Florida sugar maple leaf full#

long,Īdditional Comments: Many botanists have thought that Southern sugar maple is a small version, variety, or subspecies of Acer saccharum (sugar maple). It grows in low woodlands and along streams in east Texas, where it has diverse growth habits, ranging from over 100 feet tall in deep sterile sugar sand to scarcely 30' on the most fertile soil in all of east Texas.įruit Characteristics: green or reddish samara, 3/4 in. saccharum), although it is best shielded from afternoon sun in Texas. The edges of the leaves turn under slightly giving them a. The round to oval growth habit makes it an ideal shade or street tree. It is smaller and more heat tolerant than true sugar maple (A. Acer saccharum- Sugar Maple color, Florida maple is ideal for use as a specimen, park or street tree, or for use in woodland areas and is much preferred over Sugar Maple in USDA hardiness zones 8b through 9. A tight, hard-looking bark can be found on some sugar maples but not on red maples.Īs a general rule, if you try to peel the bark off a red maple, you will find it comes off easily, but sugar maple bark is rigid and does not come off, even if it looks like it is peeling.īulls-eyes sometimes appear in red maple bark but never in sugar maples.Southern sugar maple displays beautiful foliage in autumn, the leaf color ranging from scarlet to crimson to orange to old-gold. The “hard” in “hard maple” is sometimes reflected in the appearance of the tree’s bark.

Red maple is also know as soft maple, while sugar maple is also called hard maple.

Red maple–or swamp maple– can tolerate having wet roots, so if you know a given tree is a maple because of opposite branching, and if it is growing in or near water or a wet area, it is a red maple. As Chuck Wosster writes in Northern Woodlands magazine, “telling red maple from sugar maple can vex even seasoned botanists on occasion.” That said, there are a number of keys that help distinguish the two maples It is not easy to tell red maple from sugar maple. If you see at least one pair of opposite branches, it is either a maple or an ash. It is one of the dominant species in mixed hardwood forests, so generally if you find one tree, you will find many throughout the forest, unlike red maple, it does not tolerate wet roots, so it will not be found in swampy or boggy areas. Thus, it can start life even when over-shadowed by more mature trees. It is also tolerant of shade, meaning it does not need direct sunlight to grow. It has adapted to a variety of soil types, so it is not limited to specific conditions. Sugar maple can be found throughout the Northeast.

#Florida sugar maple leaf full#

In March, a popular dessert at church suppers in New England is “sugar-on-snow,” made by boiling sap and then pouring it on a bowl full of hard-packed snow. An area of many maple trees being tapped for sap is called a “sugarbush.” The sap is then transported to the sugarhouse where it is boiled down to make maple syrup and other maple-flavored products. With the trees in close proximity, it is easy to tap them for their sap. Some areas of the Northeastern forest are primarily composed of sugar maples. This means that many large mature trees populate our region. Its average life span is 300 years, and it can live up to 500 years. Sugar maple is the second most common tree in the Northeast. John Burroughs, Under the Maples Sugar Maple Tree Identification I always feel at home where the sugar maple grows… glorious in autumn, a fountain of coolness in the summer, sugar in its veins, gold in its foilage, warmth in its fibers, and health in it the year round. Red maple is also known as swamp maple because it can thrive in wet areas, while sugar maple cannot tolerate these conditions. If you see opposite branching on a tree and it is growing in a swamp, lowland, or right next to water, then you know it is a red maple.

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