Acer nigrum - black maple

Family: Aceraceae

Range: See the following website for more information:

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/acer/nigrum.htm

Additionally, over its entire range it tends to increase in frequency from east to west.

Habitat: Black maple grows on a variety of soils, but most commonly on moist soils of

river bottoms in mixed hardwood forests. In the Mixed Mesophytic forests of the Eastern U.S, black maple appears as a dominant species in association

with American beech, yellow-poplar, American basswood, sugar maple, yellow buckeye, northern red oak,, white oak,, and eastern hemlock.

Origin: Native to North America.

Lifespan: This species grows rapidly early in life, then slows and may attain a maximum

life of 200 years.

Size: Mature trees may reach heights of 70 to 110 ft and have a trunk width of more than

3 ft. dbh.

Reproduction: monoecious; reproducing via double winged samaras.

Common uses: Black maples are tapped for sap which is used in the process of making maple syrup. Tests on plots of black and sugar maples have shown little differences between the two species in the sugar content of sap. Because of its similarities in wood properties, black maple has been cut and sold with sugar maple as hard maple lumber. Occasionally this tree is used as an ornamental.

Interesting facts: Frequent hybridization with sugar maple occurs where the ranges of these two species overlap. As a distinguishing characteristic from other maples: leaf margins will “droop” and appear wilted.

Fact Sheet for this species at Virginia Tech's dendrology website