{"id":20210,"date":"2022-10-14T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20210"},"modified":"2025-07-29T13:19:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T17:19:38","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-black-maple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-black-maple\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Black Maple"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

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.\"Drawing<\/a><\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the black maple or\u00a0Acer nigrum.<\/em><\/p>\n

Black maple is easily confused with its cousin, the sugar maple, but there are a few key identifying characteristics to tell them apart. Black maple commonly has stipules, or miniature leaves, at the base of the leaf stem. This species features mottled gray stems and black pointed buds oppositely arranged on the stems. The lobed leaves are darker green and tend to droop down at the edges as the summer goes on.<\/p>\n

The bark is lighter gray and smooth in young trees and features flakes or plates in older trees.<\/p>\n

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

Black maples, frequently found on moist or bottomland sites, grow 60 to 75 feet tall and can be 40 to 50 feet wide, providing excellent shade with their full foliage.<\/p>\n

The 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. Black maple suffers from salt, drought and air pollution.<\/p>\n

“Don’t be confused by the similarities. Use the tiny stipule (leaf) at the base of the stem, the drooping edges of the dark leaf and its dark buds on gray mottled stems to tell this native apart from its cousin sugar maple. Can you ID this native tree? Meet black maple or Acer nigrum.”<\/p>\n