Twigs are reddish and have rounded, oblong, vegetative buds. ![]() Crushed twigs do not emit a rank odor as does the silver maple. The bark is smooth and light gray on young- and intermediate-aged stems, while mature bark is dark gray and rough. ![]() The red maple is usually a medium-sized tree with a moderate growth rate. Maple tree culture and habits » Red Maple Sugar maple is a popular ornamental tree, especially for its brilliant yellow, orange, and red fall foliage.įall color is a big draw for Missouri tourism, just as it is in the New England and throughout the eastern hardwood forests.An excellent tree selector service » Woodworkers call this birdseye maple, and it adds value to the lumber, which often becomes veneer for fine furniture. Their tiny vestigial knots create a striking pattern of circles in the wood. When sugar maple grows under adverse conditions, it sometimes develops a pattern of numerous closely spaced buds that die off. The wood is made into furniture, interior finishing, and much more. See the links for "Maple Sugaring" below. The best time to tap for most of Missouri is usually middle to late January or early February. Missourians can tap maple sap and make their own maple syrup. Sugar maple is a main source for maple sugar and syrup, a multibillion-dollar industry in North America. ![]() Native Americans had many medicinal uses for a tea made from the inner bark, and they taught European colonists how to tap the trees' sweet sap. It is uncommon, occurring in eastern and southern Missouri. Lobes are tapered but bluntly pointed or even rounded at the tips, usually lacking secondary lobes or teeth. Leaves' lower surface is hairy along the veins. nigrum), but leaf undersides are not yellowish green. saccharum schneckii) looks most similar to black maple (ssp. Missouri is at the edge of this subspecies' US range. It is uncommon, occurring in southern and central Missouri. Bark is beechlike: light gray, smooth, becoming shallowly furrowed or with scaly ridges with age. saccharum floridanum) has rather small leaves (1¼ to 4 inches long), and lobes with blunt to rounded tips. Some botanists have considered black maple a distinct species, Acer nigrum. Compared to sugar maple, it is more tolerant of heat and drought it is scattered in northern Missouri, uncommon south of the Missouri River. Leaf stems abruptly enlarged at the base. ![]() saccharum nigrum) is named for its dark gray or black bark leaf undersides yellowish green to green uppersides rather dull the sinuses between main lobes are wide or comparatively shallow, forming angles greater than 90 degrees, mostly 3-lobed. Missouri has three other subspecies of sugar maple, too. The description above refers to sugar maple's nominate subspecies, Acer saccharum saccharum. Twigs are slender, shiny, smooth, green at first, reddish-brown later pores conspicuous, pale bud tips sharp-pointed.įlowers April–May, with male and female flowers commonly on the same tree (sometimes on separate trees), borne on long, hairy, drooping stalks, appearing as the leaves are expanding.įruit matures August–October, reddish brown, samaras (winged fruits) usually in pairs, each wing ¾–1½ inches long. Leaves are opposite, simple, 3–6 inches long, triangular overall, sometimes wider than long, usually 5-lobed but sometimes 3-lobed lobes tapered to sharply pointed tips, sides of lobes often with secondary lobes or teeth sinuses between main lobes U-shaped and forming angles less than 90 degrees upper surface dark green lower surface pale green, bluish or grayish green, or whitish, smooth except for tufts of hairs at the vein axils.īark is smooth and gray on young trees, later darker with grooves and irregular scaly plates. Sugar maple is a medium to large tree with a large, round crown.
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