HLC-09

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Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Common Name: Sugar Maple
Scientific Name: Acer saccharum
Other Names:

Leaf: Simple, opposite; Usually 5 lobed, with 5 veins; Tips round pointed; Turn yellow, orange, or scarlet in autumn.
Flower: Males yellow, hanging from stalks before and with emerging leaves; Females greenish yellow; Males and Females on same tree; 3-7cm long.
Fruit: Seeds plump, reddish brown, winged; In keys 2.5-3cm long; Begin bearing seeds at age 30-40.
Twig: Somewhat slender; Tan or light reddish brown, smooth, slightly glossy, with tiny lenticels; Terminal bud cone-shaped, pointed, dark reddish brown.
Bark: On younger trees – smooth, silver grey; On older trees – variable, deeply furrowed, irregularly ridged, sometimes scaly.
Wood: Heavy, hard, strong, stiff; Straight-grained; Narrow heartwood pale grayish brown to reddish tan.

Facts About This Tree:
1. Sugar maple grows up to 35m high and lives 300 years.
2. Each spring, frosty nights and warmer days trigger the sap flow within the tree. Tap a hole in the tree, collect the watery sap, and boil it down to one-fortieth of the original volume – you have a maple syrup!
3. Native people drank maple sap fresh from the tree as a cold refreshing beverage.
4. Rich in protein and fat, and low in carbohydrates, maple seeds are prime pickings for cardinals and grosbeaks. Chipmunks and squirrels harvest the seed crop for in-tree dining and take-home for future consumption.

Lat, Long: 43.73754, -79.78359
Diameter (DBH): 77.7 cm
Last Year Modified: 2015
Carbon Stored in this Tree: 2225.388 kg of C
Equivalent CO2: 8158.941 kg of C

Find more trees in Heart Lake Conservation Area.

Reference
1. Blouin, Glen. 2001. An Eclectic Guide to Trees East of the Rockies. Erin, ON. Boston Mills Press
2. Petrides George A. 1998. A Field Guide to Eastern Trees: Eastern United States and Canada, Second Edition. NY. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. Ministry of Natural Resources. 2013. The Tree Atlas. Retrieved from http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/ClimateChange/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_101493.html
4. Photo Credit: Kathryn Chin; Daniel J. Kim; Seed by Daniel Tigner, Canadian Forest Tree Essences, Bud by Cephas via Wikimedia Commons
Copyright 2015 Association for Canadian Educational Resources