Acer saccharum
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| Sugar maple | |
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| Sugar maple in Brown County State Park, Indiana, USA | |
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| Species: | A. saccharum
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| Acer saccharum | |
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Acer saccharum (sugar maple or rock maple) is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada, from Nova Scotia west through Quebec and southern Ontario to southeastern Manitoba around Lake of the Woods, and the northern parts of the Central and eastern United States, from Minnesota eastward to the highlands of the eastern states.[3] Sugar maple is best known for its bright fall foliage and for being the primary source of maple syrup.
Description
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Ecology
The sugar maple is an extremely important species to the ecology of many forests in the northern United States and Canada. Pure stands are common, and it is a major component of the northern and midwestern U.S. hardwood forests.
Sugar maple is native to areas with cooler climates. In northern parts of its range, January temperatures average about −18 °C (0 °F) and July temperatures about 16 °C (61 °F); in southern parts, January temperatures average about 10 °C (50 °F) and July temperatures average almost 27 °C (81 °F).[4]
Acer saccharum is among the most shade tolerant of large deciduous trees. Its shade tolerance is exceeded only by the striped maple, a smaller tree. Like other maples, its shade tolerance is manifested in its ability to germinate and persist under a closed canopy as an understory plant, and respond with rapid growth to the increased light formed by a gap in the canopy. The sugar maple can grow comfortably in any type of soil except sand.
Sugar maples engage in hydraulic lift, drawing water from lower soil layers and exuding that water into upper, drier soil layers. This not only benefits the tree itself, but also many other plants growing around it.[5]
Human influences have contributed to the decline of the sugar maple in many regions. Its role as a species of mature forests has led it to be replaced by more opportunistic species in areas where forests are cut over. The sugar maple also exhibits a greater susceptibility to pollution than other species of maple. Acid rain and soil acidification are some of the primary contributing factors to maple decline. Also, the increased use of salt over the last several decades on streets and roads for deicing purposes has decimated the sugar maple's role as a street tree.[citation needed]
In some parts of New England, particularly near urbanized areas, the sugar maple is being displaced by the Norway maple. The Norway maple is also highly shade tolerant, but is considerably more tolerant of urban conditions, resulting in the sugar maple's replacement in those area. In addition, Norway maple produces much larger crops of seeds, allowing it to out-compete native species.
Cultivation and uses
Maple syrup
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The sugar maple is one of the most important Canadian trees, being, with the black maple, the major source of sap for making maple syrup.[6] Other maple species can be used as a sap source for maple syrup, but some have lower sugar contents and/or produce more cloudy syrup than these two.[6] Some other trees (birch, ash, etc.) can yield a useful syrup as well, though with different flavors.[7] In maple syrup production from Acer saccharum, the sap is extracted from the trees using a tap placed into a hole drilled through the phloem, just inside the bark. The collected sap is then boiled. As the sap boils, the water is evaporated off and the syrup left behind. 40 litres of maple sap are required to be boiled to produce only 1 litre of pure syrup. This is the reason for the high cost of pure maple syrup.
Timber
The sapwood can be white, and smaller logs may have a higher proportion of this desirable wood.[8] Bowling alleys and bowling pins are both commonly manufactured from sugar maple. Trees with wavy woodgrain, which can occur in curly, quilted, and "birdseye maple" forms, are especially valued. Maple is also the wood used for basketball courts, including the floors used by the NBA, and it is a popular wood for baseball bats, along with white ash. It is also widely used in the manufacture of musical instruments, such as the members of the violin family (sides and back), guitars (neck), and drum shells. It is also quite flexible and makes excellent archery bows.[citation needed]
Canadian maple, often referred to as "Canadian hardrock maple", is prized for pool cues, especially pool cue shafts, and the highest grades of this white wood are used by virtually all, both production line and custom hand-made, cue makers to make high-quality shafts. Some production-line cues will use lower-quality maple wood with cosmetic issues, such as "sugar marks", which are most often light brown discolorations visible on the shaft caused by sap in the wood. Great shaft wood has a very consistent grain, and no marks or discoloration. Sugar marks usually do not affect how the cue plays, but are not as high quality as those without it. This wood is also used in decks for its strength.
Urban planting
The sugar maple was a favorite street and park tree during the 19th century because it was easy to propagate and transplant, is fairly fast-growing, and has beautiful fall color.[contradictory] As noted above however, it proved too delicate to continue in that role after the rise of automobile-induced pollution and was replaced by Platanus occidentalis and other hardier species. The shade and the shallow, fibrous roots may interfere with grass growing under the trees. Deep, well-drained loam is the best rooting medium, although sugar maples can grow well on sandy soil which has a good buildup of humus. Light (or loose) clay soils are also well known to support sugar maple growth. Poorly drained areas are unsuitable, and the species is especially short-lived on flood-prone clay flats. Its salt tolerance is low and it is very sensitive to boron.[citation needed]
Cultivars
- 'Apollo' – columnar
- 'Arrowhead' – pyramidal crown
- 'Astis' ('Steeple') – heat-tolerant, good in southeastern USA, oval crown
- 'Bonfire' – fast growing
- 'Caddo' – naturally occurring southern ecotype or subspecies, from Southwestern Oklahoma, great drought and heat tolerance, good choice for the Great Plains region[9]
- 'Columnare' ('Newton Sentry') – very narrow
- 'Fall Fiesta' – tough-leaved, colorful in season, above-average hardiness
- 'Goldspire' – columnar with yellow-orange fall color
- 'Green Mountain' (PNI 0285) – durable foliage resists heat and drought, oval crown, above-average hardiness
- 'Inferno' – very hardy, with more red fall color than 'Lord Selkirk' or 'Unity'
- 'Legacy' – tough, vigorous and popular
- 'Lord Selkirk' – very hardy, more upright than other northern cultivars
- 'Monumentale' – columnar
- 'Sweet Shadow' – lacy foliage
- 'Temple's Upright' – almost as narrow as 'Columnare'
- 'Unity' – very hardy, from Manitoba, slow steady growth
Use by Native Americans
The Mohegan use the inner bark as a cough remedy, and the sap as a sweetening agent and to make maple syrup.[10]
In popular culture
The sugar maple is the state tree of the US states of New York, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
It is depicted on the state quarter of Vermont, issued in 2001.
See also
- The Comfort Maple, Pelham, Ontario
- List of foods made from maple
References
- ^ Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since]. mobot.org
- ^ "Acer saccharum Marshall — The Plant List".
- ^ "Acer saccharum". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
- ^ Godman, Richard M.; Yawney, Harry W.; Tubbs, Carl H. (1990). "Acer saccharum". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Hardwoods. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – via Southern Research Station.
- ^ "Hydraulic lift and its influence on the water content of the rhizosphere: an example from sugar maple, Acer saccharum". Springerlink.com. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
- ^ a b Heilingmann, Randall B. "Hobby Maple Syrup Production (F-36-02)". Ohio State University.
- ^ Gibbons, E. 1962. Stalking the Wild Asparagus. David McKay.
- ^ Daniel L. Cassens. "Hard or sugar maple" (PDF). Purdue University:Purdue Extension.
- ^ "Putting Down Roots: Landscape Guidelines for the Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Trees In Central Oklahoma". okPLANTtrees. 3.1.2:MEDIUM DECIDUOUS TREES.
Fortunately for Oklahoma, a subspecies (believed to be an ecotype) of the Sugar Maple was discovered in the southwest part of the state that is specifically adapted to our hot summers and drying winds.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Tantaquidgeon, Gladys 1972 Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians. Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Historical Commission Anthropological Papers #3 (p. 69, 128)
- Horton, J. L.; Hart, S.C. (1998). "Hydraulic lift: a potentially important ecosystem process". Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 13 (6): 232–235. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01328-7. PMID 21238277.
- Canham, C. D. (1989). "Different Responses to Gaps Among Shade-Tolerant Tree Species". Ecology. 70 (3): 548–550. doi:10.2307/1940200.
- Brisson, J., Bergeron, Y., Bouchard, A., & Leduc, A. (1994). Beech-maple dynamics in an old-growth forest in southern Quebec, Canada. Ecoscience (Sainte-Foy) 1 (1): 40-46.
- Duchesne, L.; Ouimet, R.; Houle, D. (2002). "Basal Area Growth of Sugar Maple in Relation to Acid Deposition, Stand Health, and Soil Nutrients". Journal of Environmental Quality. 31 (5): 1676–1683. doi:10.2134/jeq2002.1676. PMID 12371186.
Further reading
- Melvyn Tyree. "Maple sap exudation: How it happens" (PDF). Maple Syrup Journal. 4 (1): 10–11.
- Damián Cirelli; Richard Jagels; Melvin T. Tyree (2008). "Toward an improved model of maple sap exudation: the location and role of osmotic barriers in sugar maple, butternut and white birch" (PDF). Tree Physiology. 28 (8). Victoria, Canada: Heron Publishing: 1145–1155. doi:10.1093/treephys/28.8.1145. PMID 18519246.
- Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 856, North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual[1]
External links
- Common Trees of Pennsylvania
- UI Plants: Woody Ornamentals (sugar maple)
- USDA Plants Profile: Acer saccharum
- Acer saccharum at Ohio State Horticulture & Crop Sciences
- Acer saccharum images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
- Winter ID Pictures
- Historic Photos and Technical Reports Documenting Sugar Maple Research, from digital archives at the University of Vermont.
- Interactive Distribution Map for Acer saccharum
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