

The Sugar Maple is currently one of the most valuable hardwood trees in the Northeast. The Mohegans used the inner bark as a cough remedy. It was also used as a blood purifier and dermatological aid. For example, the Iroquois used maple sap for sore eyes and a compound infusion of the bark as drops for blindness. Native American tribes also used the Sugar Maple for medicinal purposes. The Ojibwa used the wood to make bowls and other cooking tools. The Malecite used the wood to make paddles, torch handles, and oars. The Cherokee used the wood for lumber and to make furniture.

margins The structure of the leaf's edge. The leaves of the Sugar Maple lack the irregularly and usually double- toothed Toothed: Leaves which have a saw-toothed edge.Keys to differentiating the Sugar Maple from other maples include its leaves, bark, growth habit, and habitat. The bark of the Sugar Maple is smooth and gray when the tree is young, becoming irregularly furrowed, scaly, and dark gray on older trees. The buds are brown and sharp the buds are slender and pointed down. The twigs of the Sugar Maple are glossy and reddish brown. Trees of the Adirondacks: Sugar Maple bark is gray, smooth when the tree is young and scaly when the tree gets older. Sugar Maple on the Heart Lake Trail (28 June 2017). The winged seeds are green, turning reddish tan. The fruit of Sugar Maple is a pair of winged seeds (called a samara Samara: A type of dry fruit where one seed is surrounded by papery tissue that helps carry the seed away from the tree as the wind blows.

In the Adirondack Mountains, this tree usually flowers in mid-May with leaf expansion. The Sugar Maple flowers in mid- to late-spring, producing tiny greenish yellow flowers with five sepals. Sugar Maple leaves turn red, yellow, or orange in autumn, contributing to the brilliant palette of colors seen in September and early October in the Adirondacks. The upper surface of a Sugar Maple leaf is green in the summer the lower surface is pale green to whitish. There is a moderately deep U-shaped notch ( sinus Sinus: In leaves with lobes, the indented area between two lobes.) between the lobes. Each of the largest three lobes Lobe: A projection from an edge of a plant structure (such as a leaf), larger than a tooth. The leaves of the Sugar Maple usually have five squarish, shallow lobes. Like other maples, Sugar Maples have opposite Opposite Leaves: Leaves occurring in pairs at a node, with one leaf on either side of the stem., lobed leaves. Sugar Maple that grow in the open are oval in shape, with upswept lower branches and straight upper branches.
Sugar maple leaf shape free#
Forest-grown Sugar Maples are generally free from branches on the lower third to two-thirds of the tree, with a narrow, rounded crown. The branches are opposite, meaning that they emerge in pairs, opposite one another. The mature Sugar Maple is a large tree, growing 50-70 feet tall, with a straight, single trunk. Sugar Maple on the John Brown Farm Trails (23 September 2011). Trees of the Adirondacks: Sugar Maple leaves turn red, yellow, or orange in the fall.
