Central Park Conservancy

Sugar Maple

Scientific Name: Acer saccharum
Common Name: Sugar Maple
Division: Magnoliophyta
Family: Aceraceae
Genus: Acer

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Not a common tree in Central Park, the Sugar Maple is much more at home in cool, moist soil throughout New England into Canada and into the Midwest. It does not tolerate droughty, compacted soils. This is one of the trees we use to replace Norway Maple and Sycamore Maple in our woodlands, where the soil is much like that of its native habitat. The Sugar Maple’s most distinctive feature is its spectacular fall color, which sends hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts through New England each fall.

Sugar Maple
Sugar Maple at East 101st Street,
north of East Meadow

Flower
Detail of Sugar Maple tree flower 

Light yellowish-green, hanging in clusters.  Appear early spring, before tree leafs out.

Fruit
Detail of Sugar Maple tree fruit

Two-winged, horseshoe-shaped samara, 1 inch long.

Leaf
Detail of Sugar Maple tree leaf 

5 rounded lobes,
3 - 6 inches long.  Dark green on top, paler green underneath.
Bark
Detail of Sugar Maple tree bark 

Brown, darkens as tree ages, developing furrows.

 

Form:  Medium to tall, up to 100 feet.  Oval, with short trunk developing into several main upright branches.  Dense elliptical crown.

LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL PARK 
Flagpole Hill (west of Mall just south of 72nd Street) 
Obelisk 
Southeast of North Meadow Recreation Center

Photo Credit:
Steve Baskauf, bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/
Matthew Brown, Central Park Conservancy
Neil Calvanese, Central Park Conservancy