Description: Medium to large tree with open crown, irregularly domed with wide-spreading branches, slender straight shoots and striking multicoloured autumn foliage.

Height: 20-30 m

Diameter: 0.5-1.2 m

Leaves: Opposite; deeply cleft into five lobes, the three main lobes reaching two-thirds to the centre, often wedge-shaped to their base, long-acuminate to a whisker, but the few large teeth at the shoulder and beyond are acuminate to a finely rounded tip; very thin texture, sometimes rather hard; soon tattered by insects; unfold pale green late in May, soon fresh green, pale or glaucous beneath, variably pubescent, but always downy in the axils of the chief veins; 12 × 18 cm; petiole 8-12 cm pale bright green, sometimes red. Gold and scarlet colours early in autumn.

Bark: Smooth grey finely ridged until fairly big, when long wide fissures develop and broad ridges lift away in big shaggy plates.

Shoots: Bright pale green with pale lenticels and often a band of purplish-red by each pair of leaves or buds. Later olive-brown. Buds ovoid-conic, 5-6 mm, many dark brown scales with pale margins and fine pale brown pubescence.

Flowers: Bunches of slender, hairy pedicels 2-5 cm bearing pale yellow, five-lobed bell-shaped calyx, 5mm long. Discs without petals.

Fruit: Rare in Europe, paired key with two level slender wings 4 × 1 cm each, maturing brown.

Habitat: Moist soils of uplands and valleys, sometimes in pure stands

Range: Extreme SE Manitoba east to Nova Scotia, south to N Carolina and west to E Kansas; local in NW S Carolina and N Georgia; to 750m in north and 900-1700m in south Appalachians.

The famous maple sugar of N America is obtained almost solely from this tree. It is harvested by tapping the tree and collecting the juice (20-270 litres per tree) which is afterwards evaporated to 3% of its original volume. Forms one of the chief elements of the glorious autumn colour effects of New England, its leaves dying off into various shades of orange, gold, scarlet and crimson, each tree retaining year after year its particular shades. Introduced 1735, but few fine specimens to be found in the UK. It appears to be quite hardy, but does not grow quickly when young.

Information: Mitchell (1978), Bean I (1976), Audubon (1980).

Source: Weasdale Nurseries, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria.

Purchased: 1993.11.19, one at 2-3'

Planted: 1993.12.20 in US Eastern forest triangle at C14E.

Progress: this tree was clearly not happy here, and die back was pretty much equal to new growth for the 93/94 and 94/95 winters. There was almost no die back in the 95/96 winter, allowing us to hope that it had finally established and would now start to grow away. However, the 96/97 winter seemed to kill it completely and it was subsequently removed.

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