![]() Being more or less shade-tolerant has pros and cons: less shade-tolerant trees often grow faster than more shade-tolerant trees when sunlight is readily available, but shade-tolerant trees are generally longer-lived. Conversely, red maple, along with trees like yellow birch and red oak, is considered a “mid-tolerant,” capable of tolerating only moderate amounts of shade. Sugar maple, along with beech and hemlock, is “shade-tolerant,” capable of surviving and even growing under a relatively dense canopy and with little direct sunlight. Foresters often describe trees by “shade-tolerance,” their ability to survive under differing levels of sunlight exposure. The first way that these trees are distinct is in how they grow. These distinctions have real and important implications for our forests and how we manage them. ![]() The bark and leaves of these two trees have stumped plenty of us, leading many to just call them both “maple.” This wouldn’t be such a big deal if both species weren’t so abundant - according to the US Forest Service sugar maple and red maple are the two most prominent tree species in Vermont by volume - and so different these two species grow on different sites in different ways and have different commercial value and applications. However, even just tapping one or two trees and drinking the sap or using it in cooking is a beautiful experience.It is difficult for many people to distinguish between sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and red maple (Acer rubrum). There’s nothing quite like spending your early spring days collecting sap from maple trees and boiling it down into syrup over a roaring fire. Tapping trees and boiling down sap into syrup can be a time-consuming process, but I think it’s worth it just for the sap itself! Check out my three-part video series about tapping maple trees at home if you’d like more info! ![]() Silver maple and red maple sap have around 1.5% sugar, while ashleaf maple has only 1%. The sap of black maple has a sugar content close to that of sugar maple’s, and is also tapped commercially. Furthermore, black maple has fine hairs across the lower leaf surface that give it a velvety feel, and the base of the leaf stalk displays distinctive stipules. It can be distinguished by its more shallowly lobed leaves and drooping leaf edges. nigrum) is very similar in appearance to sugar maple, and the two species even hybridize! In fact, there is some debate about whether they should be considered separate species at all. Another option is to identify the trees when leaves are out, mark their location, and return to tap them the following spring.īlack maple ( A. ![]() Learning to identify maples in the winter is important, as the sugaring season starts before leaves appear (around here in Minneapolis usually in March.) As such, becoming familiar with the bark and winter buds will help you distinguish maples from other trees, as well as maple species from each other. platanoides) should be avoided because it produces cloudy sap. According to Modern Maple, Norway maple ( A. Most species of maples can be tapped for syrup-even ashleaf maple or box elder ( Acer negundo)! You will probably just have to boil the sap longer, and the resulting product may be a bit different than what you’d expect. While maple syrup from any source is delicious, learning to tap trees is a highly rewarding seasonal activity, and I encourage you to try it! ![]() But just because it’s readily found at a store doesn’t mean that its origins aren’t wild. People don’t often think of maple trees as wild edibles, but I beg to differ! Maple syrup and related goods are one of the most commercially available wild food products in North America, probably the most commercially available. ![]()
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