Sugar Maple Family (Black Diamond) Traditional Cache

Maples seem abundant here. Apparently, of the maples, only Silver Maples are intolerant to Juglon, that the roots of the Walnut trees send out. The trees are so tall, I get a crick in my neck. Now I can look down and study the fallen leaves. BYOP!

This from :

Know Your Trees

L. H. Bailey Hortorium

Cornell University

33. SUGAR MAPLE

hard maple, rock maple

Acer saccharum Marshall

Sugar maple is a magnificent forest tree abundant everywhere in the state outside of Long Island. It is the official state tree of New York.

Besides providing beautiful borders to many miles of highway, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of maple syrup from the many thousands of sugar bushes in all parts of the state, it yields a wood of high grade. It is hard, strong, close-grained, and tough, with a fine, satiny surface, and is in great demand for flooring, veneer, interior finish, furniture, shoe lasts, rollers, and as a fuelwood of the best quality.

Bark - on young trees dark gray in color, close, smooth, and firm, becoming furrowed into long irregular plates lifting along one edge.

Twigs - slender, shining, the color of maple sugar.

Winter buds - very narrow, sharp-pointed, brown in color, the terminal buds much larger than the laterals.

Leaves - simple, opposite, 3 to 5 inches long and fully as wide, 3 to 5 shallow lobes with wide-spaced coarse teeth, dark green in color above, paler below; the clefts are rounded at the base.

Fruit - maple samaras, in short clusters, ripening in September. Seeds - join each other in a straight line. Wings - turn down almost at right angles.

Distinguishing features - rounded cleft between lobes of leaves; leaf lobes lacking small teeth; sharp-pointed, brown buds; brown twig.

This from:

Rebecca Heisman

Freelance wildlife/environment writer & communications specialist

Two species of maple are common on the property where I live. On the left is a leaf from a sugar maple, Acer saccharum, the common, familiar tree that we tap to make maple syrup each spring, the one that’s on the Canadian flag. On the right is a leaf from a red maple, Acer rubrum. I love that their Latin names actually mean sugar and red – makes them easy to remember. You can easily tell them apart by their leaves if you know what to look for, because sugar maple leaves have nice smooth edges while red maple leaves have coarse teeth. S for sugar maple and smooth, R for red maple and rough!

Sugar maples in peril

by Paul Hetzler on January 31st, 2016

In October 2015, the alarming results of a new study looking at forty years of maple growth rings in northern New York were released by SUNY-ESF in Syracuse.

Most tree-ring studies of canopy trees in the region do not show a decline like what we see in these sugar maple. Combined with evidence of reduced natural regeneration of sugar maple in the region, it is a concern.

Given the parade of significant tree-stress events in recent years, this does not bode well for maples. Over the past 30 years we’ve had more frequent droughts, it takes a tree two to three years to recover from even a moderate drought. And it may take a decade to recover from events like the 1998 ice storm. Less-visible (and therefore lesser known) issues like infestations of European fruit lecanium scales take a toll as well.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, maples now face new threats from invasive species never before seen in North America

What serious problems can be seen?

Drought - Reduced water supply during summer months means more water is being given off than is being taken up. Maples will often exhibit leaf scorch (browning of leaf edges). Repeated leaf scorch often indicates restriction, smothering, or death of the roots.

Girdling roots - These roots circle trunks, often below grade, constricting sugar transport to the roots and slowly killing them. Norway maples seem particularly prone. Symptoms: center crown death or early fall coloration. Inspect roots of new stock carefully.

Included bark - Branch attachments on maples often have included (embedded) bark between branch and trunk, or co-dominant stems. This weak union is a common point of failure on older maples. Inspect suspicious unions showing swelling, plants, or leakage.

Maple decline - Decline or dieback of sugar maples is becoming more common. Probable cause is a combination of internal factors aggravated by environmental conditions. Symptoms: premature fall color, smaller leaves, and branch dieback. There is no permanent solution.

Verticillium wilt - This destructive disease attacks through the roots, causing the xylem to plug up. Symptoms: wilting of leaves on one limb, reduced growth, gray-green streaks in sapwood. Prune out affected limbs. Avoid wounding roots, and water new trees. If replacing with another tree on the same site, select a resistant species.

The cache is a tied in, camoed, “micro” pill bottle, that you have to push hard to open and close. As always, please try to put it together as you found it or better, including the camo. Don’t forget to BYOP!