Sugar Maple

Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum

Aceraceae (Maple Family)

▲ mature tree in summer

▲ ▼ fall colors

▲ ▼ fall colors

▲ ▼ leaves

▲ pointed terminal buds

▲ ▼ fall leaf color

▲ ▼ trunk and bark; lower trunk showing black coloration that occurs on some trees

Location on Missouri State University campus: lining driveway median off National Avenue toward Carrington Hall

Acer saccharum: Sugar Maple

  • Leaves opposite, deciduous, simple, palmately 3-5 lobed, slightly toothed on margins, but tips of “teeth" are rounded; bright green above and below, mostly glabrous; 3-6" wide and long
  • Fall color is often brilliant yellow, orange or reddish-orange--one of best species for fall color
  • Stems brown, shiny with small lenticels and sharply-pointed buds
  • Bark is smooth and gray-brown when young, then becoming more furrowed and platey with age; platey/scaly nature varies among trees; some trees have gray to almost black bark at maturity
  • Grows 60-75 feet tall and equally wide or wider in open settings; more of an upright oval crown in woodlands
  • Native to full-shade forests in north central and eastern midwest; prefers full shade, but grows well in full sun, too (best fall color in full sun); does best in moist, well-drained, high-organic matter soil, but fairly drought-tolerant
  • Is one of the “hard maples" along with Norway maple, except Sugar Maple has more platey bark, sharply-pointed terminal buds, and clear sap in petioles, and Norway Maple has furrowed bark, egg-shaped or rounded terminal buds and milky sap in leaf petioles
  • Medium growth rate, becoming slower with age
  • Native to Missouri
  • A close relative of sugar maple: