A tree with 🌳︎ broadleaves arranged ╫ opposite, blade division=🍁︎ simple, margin=♧ lobed, 3-7 main leaf veins radiating from 🍁︎ one point (✋︎ palmate), sinuses=∪ rounded (U-shaped), base=∪ rounded, width=length.
Very similar to the
sugar maple Acer saccharum
(in the black maple, the leaves are ♧ 3-lobed [4+5 are very small], undersurface=hairy, and the sides droop), some authors consider them to be the same species, others different populations.
Part of
🍁︎ maple genus Acer
in
soapberry family Sapindaceae
in
cashew / 🌰︎ chestnut / 🍊︎ citrus / 🍁︎ maple order Sapindales.
Native to much of the range of sugar maple: very-southern 🇨🇦 Canada, and the 🇺🇸 USA Midwest.
🌎︎ Map (.pdf).
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
Like the sugar maple, tapped to make great maple syrup. We assume its wood is also made into hardwood floors and furniture.
Acer hosts caterpillars of 285 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
This plant is also known to be a host for (in areas where invasive)
🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF) Lycorma delicatula.