Sugar Maple

http://www.quick-growing-trees.com/product_images/h/635/sn_maple_tree__56135_zoom.jpg

This is another tree from campus that I enjoyed over the fall. Between this and the red maple, I really felt like I wasn't down South anymore; the famed changing of the leaves up north (which is banked on pretty heavily, and people do plant just because of tourism) happens down here a little bit, as seen with trees like this one.

Quick fact: this is the Canadian flag tree leaf. Neat, huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

As one can see, it's a little more rounded and dense than the other maples I've put up so far. It's a pretty symmetrical type of tree, generally with five similarly-sized major lobes, and they're all palmate: each lobe and vein originate from a central point at the base of the leaf. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

Again, remember how the leaves will alternate. 

I think these are a little pointier than the Silver Maple's leaves were. I think the tips of leaves help me out really well in remembering what they are. Everyone's going to have their own identification reason - be it the flag, or the color, or the thickness of the leaf, or the obvious palmation - but this one is pretty distinctive. 

If I remember correctly, the leaf is a bit bigger than the red maple (Acer rubrum) and a lot shallower with the lobe dissection than the Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum; oh yeah, I rock.)

I stuck in some color variation for fun. I thought it was pretty. I love leaves when they change. I must have played with them too much as a kid, or something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

It's got great fall color and would definitely light up a landscape for the season. It's not exactly ugly with spring leaves, either. I rather like the shape, myself. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

That's right! It's the syrup tree. However, they kind of need snowy-temperatures to really get the sap going.

How it works is the plant needs a cold season to do its thing. The heat really wears it out, meaning that it uses up more of its stored energy to deal with things than it would further up north. The tree's limit really is around South Carolina (and it doesn't exactly look thrilled to be here in the first place). 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

These are smaller winged samaras than some of the others, and less rounded in appearance than the silver maple (Acer saccharinum). There also doesn't seem to be as much call for coloration in the seed, although I could be wrong about that. The red maple (Acer rubrum) seemed to have quite a lot more than this picture here has, but, as I've said before, maples seem to like to do whatever they want.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum

Again, I've pulled up a bark photo. It's a little darker than some of the others, and also grooved. It generally has smooth, gray bark which has giant pieces peel off - but that's more common further north than it is down here.

The tree is pretty gorgeous, and useful in colder states, but doesn't like it down south or in the heat very much. It also isn't great in parking lots - doesn't like road salt or compaction at all. Generally speaking, it's what I'd call a farm-tree: keep it somewhere where people and cars won't really be interfering with it and it should be fine. I always picture goats walking around it, using it for cover in the rain, or something.