How to Identify Curly Maple Trees
The curly maple tree --- also known as the sugar maple --- is a popular tree for making maple syrup. The tree grows from eastern Canada to Texas, and as far south as Georgia. Because of this large range, help in identifying the tree is often necessary. Leaves for the sugar maple are perhaps the easiest identifying characteristic, which is how many individuals identify maple trees. A tree guidebook will often be necessary to properly identify the tree. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Walk into a wooded area where you think that curly maples grow. Be careful to not trespass illegally or walk into dangerous areas.
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Look for trees that are 60 to 75 feet in height. Curly maples tend to have a large crown that is rather dense and about two thirds of the tree's height.
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Gather leaves from a tree limb or underneath the tree. Curly maples have three to five points with few teeth on the leaf's edges. The leaf should resemble the design in the Canadian flag.
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Tap a tree that you believe is a curly maple. The tree's sap should taste sweet and sugary.
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Tips & Warnings
Curly maple is also a name for a type of wood found in certain maple trees. Unfortunately, you cannot identify curly maple wood unless you cut down the tree and split open the trunk. In maple wood, the light part of the tree is more desirable than the darker portions.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
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Comments
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The picture in the article (How to identify curly maple trees) is of a red maple leaf, not a sugar maple. The red maple leaf comes to more points around the edge and the seed have smaller wings and the wings are tighter... less gap in the 'V" between the wings.
