Family: Aceraceae, Maple view all from this family

Description Large tree with rounded, dense crown and striking, multicolored foliage in autumn.
Height: 70-100' (21-30 m).
Diameter: 2-3" (0.6-0.9 m).
Leaves: opposite; 3 1/2-5 1/2" (9-14 cm) long and wide; palmately lobed with 5 deep long-pointed lobes; few narrow long-pointed teeth; 5 main veins from base; leafstalks long and often hairy. Dull dark green above, paler and often hairy on veins beneath; turning deep red, orange, and yellow in autumn.
Bark: light gray; becoming rough and deeply furrowed into narrow scaly ridges.
Twigs: greenish to brown or gray; slender.
Flowers: 3/16" (5 mm) long; with bell-shaped 5-lobed yellowish-green calyx; male and female in drooping clusters on long slender hairy stalks; with new leaves in early spring.
Fruit: 1-1 1/4" (2.5-3 cm) long including long wing; paired forking keys; brown, 1-seeded; maturing in autumn.

Habitat Moist soils of uplands and valleys, sometimes in pure stands.

Range Extreme SE. Manitoba east to Nova Scotia, south to North Carolina, and west to E. Kansas; local in NW. South Carolina and N. Georgia; to 2500' (762 m) in north and 3000-5500' (914-1676 m) in southern Appalachians.

Discussion Maples, particularly Sugar Maple, are among the leading furniture woods. This species is used also for flooring, boxes and crates, and veneer. Some trees develop special grain patterns, including birdseye maple with dots suggesting the eyes of birds, and curly and fiddleback maple, with wavy annual rings. Such variations in grain are in great demand. The boiled concentrated sap is the commercial source of maple sugar and syrup, a use colonists learned from the Indians. Each tree yields between 5 and 60 gallons of sap per year; about 32 gallons of sap make 1 gallon of syrup or 4 1/2 pounds of sugar.