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maple
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What is a maple tree?
A maple is any of roughly 200 species of shrubs or trees in the Sapindaceae family. Maples are widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone, but are most concentrated in China.
Maples are often planted in parks and along streets and lawns as ornamentals. They come in different forms, sizes, and foliage, and many display striking fall color. Maple trees bear winged seeds in pairs, called samaras or keys. The leaves grow opposite each other on twigs. While many kinds of maples have lobed leaves, some have leaves divided into leaflets.
Several maple species yield maple syrup, and some provide valuable hardwood for furniture. The sugar maple is commercially important as a source of maple syrup, maple sugar, and hardwood lumber useful in furniture manufacture and flooring. The leaf of the sugar maple is the national emblem of Canada.
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Where are maple trees commonly found?
Maples are widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone, with a concentration in China. They are an important group of ornamentals, popular for planting in lawns, streets, and parks.
The sugar maple is native to eastern North America. The red maple is one of the most common trees in its native eastern North America. The Sycamore maple is an important shade and timber tree in Europe.
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What do maple tree leaves look like?
Maple tree leaves exhibit considerable diversity in size, shape, and color, though they are typically recognized as having 3 to 9 lobes. Most maples have lobed leaves, but some have leaves separated into leaflets.
The red maple (Acer rubrum) has leaves with three to five lobes and a pale underside. Its fall foliage, leaf stalks, flowers and winter buds are reddish. Many cultivated varieties of the Japanese maple (A. palmatum) have varying leaf shapes and colors.
The margins of simple leaves may be entire and smooth or lobed. Pinnately lobed margins indent equally along each side of the midrib, while palmately lobed margins indent along several major veins.
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How do maple trees change during the seasons?
Throughout the seasons, maple trees undergo several changes. In the late winter or early spring, when the tree is dormant, the sweet sap can be extracted for maple syrup production.
As the growing season nears its end, shorter days and cooler temperatures cause chlorophyll production to slow and eventually stop, revealing yellow and orange carotenoid pigments. In some species, anthocyanin pigments accumulate, and tannins give oak leaves and certain other plants their dull brown color. These changes in leaf pigments are responsible for the autumn colors of leaves. By autumn, the leaves turn various shades of gold to scarlet.
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Why are maple trees important to the ecosystem?
Maples are important ornamentals in ecosystems, offering diverse forms, sizes, and foliage, with many displaying striking autumn colors. Several maple species yield maple syrup, and some provide valuable hardwood. All maples bear pairs of winged seeds, called samaras, and leaves arranged oppositely on twigs.
Popular smaller maples, such as the hedge maple and Amur maple, are useful in screens or hedges, with spectacular fall foliage. The Japanese maple has numerous attractive cultivated varieties with varying leaf shapes and colors. Large maples, such as the sugar, silver, and red maples, are planted for shade.
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How is maple syrup made from maple trees?
Maple syrup is made by concentrating the sap of North American maple trees, mainly the sugar maple and black maple. Syrup production starts in late winter or early spring, when the sap is abundant.
To extract the sap, a taphole is drilled into the tree, and a spigot is inserted. The sap, which looks like sweet water, flows from the taphole when freezing is followed by thawing. This sap contains 1.5 to 3 percent solids, mostly sucrose. The sap is then concentrated by evaporation in open pans, which gives it its color and flavor. It takes about 30 to 50 gallons (115 to 190 liters) of sap to produce one gallon of syrup.
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maple, (Acer), any of a large genus (about 200 species) of shrubs or trees in the family Sapindaceae, widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone but concentrated in China. Maples constitute one of the most important groups of ornamentals for planting in lawns, along streets, and in parks. They offer a great variety of form, size, and foliage; many display striking autumn colour. Several yield maple syrup, and some provide valuable, dense hard wood for furniture and other uses. All maples bear pairs of winged seeds, called samaras or keys. The leaves are arranged oppositely on twigs. Many maples have lobed leaves, but a few have leaves separated into leaflets.
Among the popular smaller maples the hedge, or field, maple (A. campestre) and Amur, or ginnala, maple (A. ginnala) are useful in screens or hedges; both have spectacular foliage in fall, the former yellow and the latter pink to scarlet. The Japanese maple (A. palmatum), developed over centuries of breeding, provides numerous attractive cultivated varieties with varying leaf shapes and colours, many useful in small gardens. The vine maple (A. circinatum), of wide-spreading, shrubby habit, has purple and white spring flowers and brilliant fall foliage. The shrubby Siebold maple (A. sieboldianum) has seven- to nine-lobed leaves that turn red in fall.
Medium-sized maples, often more than 9 metres (30 feet) tall, include the big-toothed maple (A. grandidentatum); some believe it to be a subspecies of sugar maple, a Rocky Mountain tree, often multistemmed, displaying pink to red fall foliage. Coliseum maple (A. cappadocicum) and Miyabe maple (A. miyabei) provide golden-yellow fall colour. The three-flowered maple (A. triflorum) and the paperbark maple (A. griseum) have tripartite leaves and attractive peeling bark, in the former tannish and in the latter copper brown.
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The ash-leaved maple, or box elder, is a fast-growing tree of limited landscape use. The Norway maple (A. platanoides), a handsome, dense, round-headed tree, has spectacular greenish-yellow flower clusters in early spring; many cultivated varieties are available with unusual leaf colour (red, maroon, bronze, or purple) and growth form (columnar, globular, or pyramidal).
Large maples, usually in excess of 30 metres high, that are much planted for shade include the sugar (A. saccharum), silver (A. saccharinum), and red (A. rubrum) maples. The Oregon, or bigleaf, maple (A. macrophyllum) provides commercially valuable wood darker than that of other maples; it shows bright-orange fall foliage. The Sycamore maple (A. pseudoplatanus), an important shade and timber tree in Europe, has many ornamental varieties.
In one group of maples, the vertically striped silvery-white young bark provides an attractive winter landscaping feature. These trees are the striped maple (A. pennsylvanicum), the red snake-bark maple (A. capillipes), the Her’s maple (A. hersii), and the David’s maple (A. davidii). The chalk maple, with whitish bark, is sometimes classified as A. leucoderme, although some authorities consider it a subspecies of sugar maple.
The parlour maples, or flowering maples, are bedding and houseplants in the genus Abutilon.
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