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
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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
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Fall color is often brilliant yellow, orange or
reddish-orange—one of best species for fall color
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Stems brown, shiny with small lenticels and sharply-pointed
buds
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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
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Grows 60-75 feet tall and equally wide or wider in open
settings; more of an upright oval crown in woodlands
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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
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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
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Medium growth rate, becoming slower with age
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Native to Missouri
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A close relative of sugar maple: