Fertile female flowers are replaced by paired samaras that become mature during the fall. Cross-pollination occurs by the wind during a 1-2 week period. The flowers bloom during mid- to late spring as the leaves emerge (which are yellowish green at this time of year). The long slender pedicels of both male and female flowers are quite hairy. Both male and female flowers can occur in the same inflorescence. Individual female flowers are about 1/8" (3 mm.) long, consisting of a yellowish green calyx with 5 teeth and a 2-celled ovary with a divided style. Female flowers are also produced in drooping umbels or sparingly branched corymbs, but they are shorter (about 1-2" long). Individual male flowers are about 1/8" (3 mm.) long, consisting of a yellowish green calyx with 5 teeth and a variable number of exerted stamens (usually about 6-8). Male flowers are produced in drooping umbels or sparingly branched corymbs about 3-4" long. Sugar Maple is either dioecious or monoecious, producing separate male and female flowers on the same or different trees. The slender petioles are 2½-4" long, light green, and glabrous less often, they may be pubescent or slightly red. schneckii) in southern Illinois and areas further south that has leaves with softly pubescent undersides. However, there is a variety of Sugar Maple ( var. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous, while the lower surface is pale to medium green, glabrous (or nearly so), and sometimes slightly glaucous. The margin of each leaf is often slightly undulate and it has a few large teeth that are dentate. The tips of these lobes are pointed, while their sinuses are rounded the sides of the terminal lobe are more or less parallel. Individual leaves are 3-5" long and similarly across each leaf has 3-5 palmate lobes and an orbicular outline. Pairs of opposite leaves occur along the twigs and young shoots. Non-woody young shoots are light green and glabrous. Branch bark is gray and more smooth, while twigs are brown and glabrous with scattered white lenticels (air pores). Trunk bark is gray to gray-brown and it is covered with relatively flat irregular plates. Saplings that are growing in dense shade, however, have a narrow open crown with only a few ascending branches. In relatively open areas, the densely branched crown is globoid to ovoid in shape. Description: This tree is 60-100' tall at maturity and its trunk is 2-3½' across.
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