Sugar Maple
(Aceraceae Acer saccharum)
Adopted on March 10, 1949.
No. 1 of the Acts of 1949, effective
March 10, 1949, designated the Sugar
Maple, Aceraceae Acer saccharum,
as the official Tree. Probably no
activity is so identified with Vermont
as "sug'rin'," the production of maple
syrup from the Sugar Maple. In late
winter and early spring, sap is
collected from the usually snow
surrounded maple trees in a sugarbush
and boiled in the sugarhouse to make
syrup. In addition, the reds and yellows
of the leaves of Acer saccharum are a
key element in producing the scenic
delights of Vermont's fall foliage.
From Office of the Secretary of
State, Vermont Legislative Directory
and State Manual, Biennial Session,
1993-1994, p. 13.
Vermont shares its state tree, the
sugar maple, with New York, West
Virginia, Wisconsin, and Canada. A
single tree is 70-120 feet high and
produces two to three pounds of sugar
when "sugared-off." It has a five-lobed
leaf and a small wing-shaped seed pod.
In the fall the leaves turn bright
yellow.
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum),
sometimes called hard maple or rock
maple, is one of the largest and more
important of the hardwoods. It grows on
approximately 12.5 million hectares (31
million acres) or 9 percent of the
hardwood land and has a net volume of
about 130 million m3 (26 billion fbm) or
6 percent of the hardwood sawtimber
volume in the United States. The
greatest commercial volumes are
presently in Michigan, New York, Maine,
Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania (53). In
most regions, both the sawtimber and
growing stock volumes are increasing,
with increased production of saw logs,
pulpwood, and more recently, firewood.
Description:
- Leaf: Opposite, simple
and palmately veined, 3 to 6 inches
long, 5 lobed with entire margin;
green above, paler below.
- Flower: Yellow to green,
small, clustered, hanging from a
long (1 to 3 inch) stem, appearing
with the leaves.
- Fruit: Two-winged
horseshoe-shaped samaras about 1
inch long, appearing in clusters,
brown when mature in Autumn.
- Twig: Brown, slender and
shiny with lighter lenticels,
terminal buds brown and very sharp
pointed.
- Bark: Variable, but
generally grayish brown,on older
trees may be furrowed, with long,
thick irregular curling outward
ridges.
- Form: Medium to tall tree
(to 100 feet) with very dense
elliptical crown.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
|
Kingdom |
Plantae -- Plants |
Subkingdom |
Tracheobionta --
Vascular plants |
Superdivision |
Spermatophyta – Seed
plants |
Division |
Magnoliophyta –
Flowering plants |
Class |
Magnoliopsida –
Dicotyledons |
Subclass |
Rosidae – |
Order |
Sapindales – |
Family |
Aceraceae – Maple family |
Genus |
Acer L. – maple |
Species |
Acer saccharum Marsh.
– sugar maple |
Source:
Dendrology at Virginia Tech
U.S. Department of Agriculture
|