{"id":20174,"date":"2022-10-06T10:32:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T14:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20174"},"modified":"2025-07-29T09:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T13:43:44","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-sugar-maple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-sugar-maple\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Sugar Maple"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the sugar maple or\u00a0Acer saccharum.\"Drawing<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This tree, also called hard maple, has simple leaves typically with five lobes, two smaller lobes at the base and three larger lobes at the top, with u-shaped sinuses between the lobes. The shade-tolerant species has opposite leaf arrangement with relatively long leaf stems as well as opposite branch arrangement. The thin twigs are green in their youth, turning to a medium brown as they age. The leaves produce brilliant fall colors ranging from yellow to burnt orange.<\/p>\n

The bark of sugar maple typically has a light to medium gray color, but its appearance is variable and somewhat confusing. It can range from relatively smooth on saplings to minor crevices and ridging on medium sized trees to deeper ridges on older trees.<\/p>\n

The seed or fruit of sugar maple is a winged seed which occurs in pairs and turned from green to brown when mature.<\/p>\n

Sugar maples grow 60 to 75 feet tall and can be 40 to 50 feet wide, providing excellent shade with their full foliage.<\/p>\n

Sugar maples produce maple sap, which can be used to make maple syrup. The yield of sugar maples is one of the highest among maple trees.\u00a0The Morton Arboretum<\/a>\u00a0warns again pruning maps in the spring as they are \u2018bleeders\u2019 and will lose large amounts of sap. This species also is susceptible to leaf scorch, verticillium wilt, tar spot and anthracnose and can be affected by borers and cottony maple scale.<\/p>\n