"SUGAR MAPLE"

Sugar maple was designated as Canada’s national tree in 1965. The maple leaf adorns the Canadian Flag. Aboriginal people in North America used the tree’s sap to make maple sugar. The practice was later adopted by European settlers. Today, as the primary source of sap for the maple syrup industry, sugar maple is an important crop tree for farmers and woodlot owners.

Sugar maple is an important commercial hardwood. It’s valued for hardness, dense grain and light colour. Sugar maple is used for furniture, flooring, farm tools, veneer, general construction, cutting blocks and other products. This species is also valued as a fuelwood for home heating because it produces a large amount of heat and burns slowly.

Sugar maple is important to wildlife. Moose, deer, squirrels, rabbits, hares, porcupines, mice and many species of birds feed on maple bark, buds, twigs and fruit. Heavy feeding by deer can kill, deform and stunt the growth of maple trees. By reducing the number of maple trees in the forest, deer can change the species composition of the forest. Mice and voles also kill maple seedlings and saplings by girdling trees (girdling removes a strip of bark from around a tree).

HOW TO IDENTIFY SUGAR MAPLE

TREE SHAPE

Mature sugar maples are large, with dense rounded crowns. In forests, sugar maple trunks are usually straight and free of branches for two-thirds or more of their height. In open fields, trunks are shorter, with a few large branches supporting a wide crown.

Sugar maples can live to be 400-years-old, reaching heights of 20 to 35 metres and diameters of 50 to 90 centimetres.

LEAVES

Sugar maple leaves are eight to 13 centimetres wide. They’re a deep yellowish-green on the upper side, and paler and hairless on the under side. In autumn, they turn a brilliant red, orange or yellow.

The leaves are arranged in pairs along the twig, with each leaf opposite another. They’re flat, with three or five long pointed lobes. The leaf can be easily distinguished from other maple species by two “u-shaped” notches that separate the side lobes from the centre lobe.

TWIGS

Sugar maple twigs are reddish-brown, hairless and glossy. The sharp pointed buds lie opposite each other along the twig.

BUDS

The reddish-brown buds have several pairs of faintly hairy scales.

BARK

The bark is light to dark grey and divided into long irregular strips that often curl to one side.

FRUIT

The fruit is a winged seed about 2.5 to 3 centimetres long. It matures in autumn.

WHERE SUGAR MAPLE GROWS BEST

Sugar maple is the predominant species in the Deciduous Forest Region and a common species in the Great LakesSt. Lawrence and Acadian forest regions. In southern Ontario, sugar maple is an important component of many woodlots.

SOIL

Sugar maples grow on a variety of soils, but grow best on deep, moist, and well drained soils with medium or fine textures.

SHADE OR SUNLIGHT?

Sugar maples are tolerant of shade. They survive in the shade of other species for years until an opening in the canopy occurs and they are released to grow in partial or full sunlight.

STAND COMPOSITION

Sugar maples grow in pure and mixed stands, and evenaged and uneven-aged stands. They are commonly found with ironwood, beech, basswood, white ash, black cherry, yellow birch, white pine and red oak. As forests grow older, sugar maple becomes a predominant species.

STAND LOCATION

Sugar maples grow well on flat sites and slopes. Southern slopes, which are generally warmer, are preferred for maple sap production.