Plant ID Pages

Plant ID Pages

Plant ID Pages

Hummingbird moth with bee balm blossom

Maple (Acer spp.)


More than syrup. A family of trees that has been feeding people for millions of years.


What It Is

Maples are among the most recognizable trees in North America, known for brilliant fall colors, distinctive lobed leaves, and sweet spring sap. Members of the genus Acer, they range from towering forest trees to smaller woodland species and thrive in habitats from northern hardwood forests to river bottoms.

While Sugar Maple is the undisputed champion of syrup production, every maple has something to offer the forager. Sap can be boiled into syrup, young seeds are edible, and even the inner bark has served as a survival food.

Surprisingly, the maple family also includes one tree many people never realize is a maple at all: Boxelder (Acer negundo).

Meet the Maple Family

Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
The classic syrup tree. Its sap has the highest average sugar content, making it the most efficient species for syrup production.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
One of the most widespread trees in North America. Produces excellent syrup, though it generally takes more sap than Sugar Maple.

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
Common along rivers and floodplains. Often tapped slightly earlier in the season and produces a lighter-flavored syrup.

Black Maple (Acer nigrum)
Closely related to Sugar Maple and equally prized for syrup making. More common throughout the Midwest.

Boxelder (Acer negundo)
Despite its name, Boxelder is neither a boxwood nor an elder. It is a true maple with compound leaves instead of the familiar lobed maple leaf. Its sap can also be boiled into syrup.

Young Boxelder seedlings are one of the most common poison ivy lookalikes. Fortunately, they're easy to tell apart once you know what to look for.

Field ID Quick Tip

The easiest way to recognize a maple is by its opposite branching. Two buds, leaves, or branches grow directly across from one another on the twig.

Young Boxelders often resemble poison ivy because both usually have three leaflets.

Boxelder

  • Opposite branching

  • Grows into a tree

  • Produces paired winged "helicopter" seeds

  • Leaflets often have coarse teeth or irregular lobes


Poison Ivy

  • Alternate branching

  • Usually grows as a vine or small shrub

  • Produces clusters of pale berries

  • Never produces paired winged seeds


Remember, don't count leaflets. Look at the stem. Opposite branches point to Boxelder. Alternate branches point away from maple.


More than syrup. A family of trees that has been feeding people for millions of years.


What It Is

Maples are among the most recognizable trees in North America, known for brilliant fall colors, distinctive lobed leaves, and sweet spring sap. Members of the genus Acer, they range from towering forest trees to smaller woodland species and thrive in habitats from northern hardwood forests to river bottoms.

While Sugar Maple is the undisputed champion of syrup production, every maple has something to offer the forager. Sap can be boiled into syrup, young seeds are edible, and even the inner bark has served as a survival food.

Surprisingly, the maple family also includes one tree many people never realize is a maple at all: Boxelder (Acer negundo).

Meet the Maple Family

Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
The classic syrup tree. Its sap has the highest average sugar content, making it the most efficient species for syrup production.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
One of the most widespread trees in North America. Produces excellent syrup, though it generally takes more sap than Sugar Maple.

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
Common along rivers and floodplains. Often tapped slightly earlier in the season and produces a lighter-flavored syrup.

Black Maple (Acer nigrum)
Closely related to Sugar Maple and equally prized for syrup making. More common throughout the Midwest.

Boxelder (Acer negundo)
Despite its name, Boxelder is neither a boxwood nor an elder. It is a true maple with compound leaves instead of the familiar lobed maple leaf. Its sap can also be boiled into syrup.

Young Boxelder seedlings are one of the most common poison ivy lookalikes. Fortunately, they're easy to tell apart once you know what to look for.

Field ID Quick Tip

The easiest way to recognize a maple is by its opposite branching. Two buds, leaves, or branches grow directly across from one another on the twig.

Young Boxelders often resemble poison ivy because both usually have three leaflets.

Boxelder

  • Opposite branching

  • Grows into a tree

  • Produces paired winged "helicopter" seeds

  • Leaflets often have coarse teeth or irregular lobes


Poison Ivy

  • Alternate branching

  • Usually grows as a vine or small shrub

  • Produces clusters of pale berries

  • Never produces paired winged seeds


Remember, don't count leaflets. Look at the stem. Opposite branches point to Boxelder. Alternate branches point away from maple.


Sap
• Boil into maple syrup, maple sugar, maple cream, or maple candy.
• Drink fresh sap as a lightly sweet spring beverage.

Young Seeds ("Helicopters")
• Harvest while they're still green and tender.
• Steam, sauté, roast, or pickle.

Inner Bark
• Traditionally used as a survival food when other carbohydrates were scarce.
• Dry and grind into flour or cook with other wild foods.

Wood
• Excellent for smoking meats.
• Highly valued for furniture, flooring, butcher blocks, musical instruments, and tool handles.

Tip: Every maple can produce syrup. Some simply require more sap because their sugar content is lower.

Harvest Notes

• Tap only healthy trees at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter.

• Collect sap during late winter when nights freeze and daytime temperatures rise above freezing.

• Harvest young samaras while they're soft and bright green.

• Avoid collecting from trees growing beside busy roads or in areas treated with herbicides.


Did You Know?

For generations, maples were placed in their own botanical family, Aceraceae. Modern DNA research revealed that they belong to the Soapberry Family (Sapindaceae), making them close relatives of buckeyes, horse chestnuts, soapberries, lychee, and longan.


Ancient Roots

Maples have been growing on Earth for tens of millions of years. Fossils of extinct species such as Acer trilobatum have been found in Miocene rock layers dating between about 5 and 23 million years ago. Their leaves are so similar to today's maples that they're
instantly recognizable.


The maple lineage is even older than that. Fossils assigned to the genus Acer date back roughly 60 million years, shortly after the dinosaurs disappeared. Through changing climates, continental shifts, and multiple Ice Ages, maples endured and diversified into the trees we know today.


When you tap a maple tree each spring, you're harvesting from one of the oldest surviving lineages of deciduous forest trees.

Wild Pantry Snapshot

Maples offer something in every season. Sweet sap in late winter, tender seeds in spring, cooling shade through summer, brilliant color in autumn, and dependable hardwood all year long. From Sugar Maple to Boxelder, this remarkable family reminds us that one tree can nourish us in far more ways than a bottle of syrup ever could.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/probonobaker/5210591443/in/photolist-8WrDiv-v2fatC-5E7Mtz-jab4mN-2gWvrh8-apwjNp-4JVRRh-8DPRHc-ekKV4Q-9Zjbmt-493WUJ-dnmeqS-mrc7fZ-2qx6EbX-aajR8d-7RQMxD-2oKXVE5-7ZoUfr-2oC18hs-4Yv6WX-7Ys4kH-iVtmCb-2rUdnJa-acfwcZ-2nYgoDU-2qc5htD-5FLnrd-2nYhMNS-27xn54U-4wVHzK-26WxonB-8H7ZUW-6nCc1K-2kQTY9T-rod38V-3AtkSv-vuTgH7-2kRiMJ4-2kRguQ7-2jh4wHr-2oj3Gzp-2kRg275-2jh8Hps-2kRgv5q-dxVff3-2kS26Q8-6fLA6h-2kS27kw-2kS26Ra-2kRZvpz
Students identifying and sorting edible wild plants as part of a foraging certification course.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bloggle/2593998891/in/photolist-4XdVuP-4Xidys-4XdVEn-4Xiemh-4XifCu-4XifdC-4XdWG2-4XifMU-4XdX2P-4XdVQX-4XdWB6-4XidCu-4XieRG-bxfi7N-ENAw43-4XdWjT-2hyaUEa-bC95Kz-7JahQ-4xnKbk-2qqdfRk-8EDExN-7MTyHE-2iMeEvQ-aLkQyc-dxiMxu-fKubFR-7MPxKr-2r5CHkQ-5ESLEW-7MTxWu-2kUKS2c-7MTxeE-7MTy2S-2oe4vDH-tda4R-7MTvTs-5ENtgx-2jZkUE9-qCQpdx-2e7uA8w-7MTx3A-2rkm2GS-TkGhmf-2jY84Pg-ri4qJb-2cNfAbp-9rDTum-4z6Z95-2e7uzEC