Sugar Maple
(Acer saccharum)
Sugar maple, also known as hard maple or rock maple, is a medium to large tree that grows 75-100 feet tall and 50-75 feet wide. They make excellent shade trees and are widely planted as ornamentals due to their vivid fall colors ranging from yellow, to orange, to red. Sugar Maple sap contains quite a large proportion of sugar which can be used as a refreshing drink, but more commonly it is concentrated by boiling off the excess water and making it into delicious "maple syrup". This natural syrup is a very healthy sweetener which is said to be a liver tonic and kidney cleanser. It can be used in place of sugar in cooking, used in cough syrups or dried and made into maple sugar. Perhaps it's most delightful use is when it is drizzled on pancakes or waffles for breakfast! The sap can be harvested in late winter or early spring with the flow being best on a warm sunny day after a frost.
Sugar maples also have a few other uses besides their gorgeous looks and sweet sap. The seeds can be boiled and eaten. A tea made from the inner bark is a blood tonic, diuretic, expectorant and cough remedy. It can also be cooked, dried and ground into a powder that is used as a thickening agent in soups etc. or mixed with cereals when making bread. The copious amounts of leaves that fall down in the autumn can be packed around apples, root crops, etc. to help preserve them and they also make great mulch. The wood is heavy, strong, and attractive making it one of the most valuable of all hardwoods. It is used for cabinets, furniture, flooring, turnery, musical instruments and more. The wood is also a very good fuel giving off a lot of heat and forming very hot embers. The ashes of the wood are rich in alkali and yield large quantities of potash.
Sugar maples also have a few other uses besides their gorgeous looks and sweet sap. The seeds can be boiled and eaten. A tea made from the inner bark is a blood tonic, diuretic, expectorant and cough remedy. It can also be cooked, dried and ground into a powder that is used as a thickening agent in soups etc. or mixed with cereals when making bread. The copious amounts of leaves that fall down in the autumn can be packed around apples, root crops, etc. to help preserve them and they also make great mulch. The wood is heavy, strong, and attractive making it one of the most valuable of all hardwoods. It is used for cabinets, furniture, flooring, turnery, musical instruments and more. The wood is also a very good fuel giving off a lot of heat and forming very hot embers. The ashes of the wood are rich in alkali and yield large quantities of potash.
Tolerances:
Special Uses:
|
Habits:
Possible Drawbacks:
|