Why Is It Called Sugar Maple?

Sugar maples have many good qualities, including beautiful leaf colors in the fall.

The sugar maple has many different names, each reflecting the high value of this tree. Sugar maple sap consists of 2 to 6 percent sugar, and can be boiled to make delicious maple syrup. The sap from other varieties of maple trees can be used to make syrup but, true to its name, the sugar maple's sap has the most sugar. Woodworkers call the tree hard maple, and use it to make furniture. This valuable and versatile tree is also known by its genus name acer saccharum. Saccharum is the Latin term meaning sugar.

History

Ancient Romans used maple wood to make handles for their spears; the Latin term "acer" in the genus name means "sharp," as in spear. Native Americans made good use of the sweet sap by producing a syrup they called "bark sugar," which was stored in bark boxes. Native Americans taught many early colonists how to harvest the sap for syrup. In Canada, the maple leaf is the national symbol, showing the importance of this tree throughout Canadian history.

Sap

Sugar maples store starch in specialized cells called ray cells. Throughout the cold winter months, the starch remains stored. When the tree's surrounding temperatures reach around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, enzymes begin work to change the starch into sugar. The sugar is collected in the tree's sap, which begins to flow when rising temperatures cause pressure to build inside the tree. Once the sap begins flowing, drilling a hole in the tree allows for the collection of the sap for maple sugar production.

Size

Sugar maples can reach 300 to 400 years in age and up to 90 to 120 feet in height, usually around 140 years of age. The size of the tree determines how many taps, or sap collection holes, it can maintain. The tree needs to be at least 10 feet in diameter to have one tap. At 20 inches in diameter, a tree can handle two taps. A tree over 25 inches in diameter can have three taps.

Appearance

Sugar maples have rough gray bark and green five-lobed leaves that grow to around 5 to 6 inches long and wide. In the fall, the leaves transform into a striking sea of yellow, orange and red. The crown of leaves appears rounded; most sugar maples have a symmetrical appearance. In the fall, the tree drops fruits which look like small green double peas, each equipped with a wing. As most schoolchildren know, if you drop one from a height, it will spin like a helicopter on the way down.

References

• University of Wisconsin Extension; Acer Saccharum Marsh; Richard M. Godman et al.
• University of Maine Cooperative Extension; How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup; Bud Blumenstock; March 2007
• University of Kentucky: Acer Saccharum Sugar Maple

Resources

• University of Minnesota Extension: Identifying Maple Trees for Syrup Production;Carl Vogt; 2009