SAPINDACEAE - - Soapberry Family

Acer floridanum (Chapman) Pax — Southern Sugar Maple / Florida Maple

Southern sugar maple (Acer floridanum) also called Florida maple and hammock maple, is one of four species in the "sugar" maple group, including northern sugar maple (A. saccharum), black maple (A. nigrum), and chalk maple (A. leucoderme). Without leaves, these four are more or less impossible to separate, and even with leaves can be very difficult. Supposedly, you can eliminate A. leucoderme from the mix because of it's small stature and usual, multi-stemmed trunk. But, this is not always the case as it can be an almost medium sized tree with a single trunk. Unlike Chalk maple, Southern sugar maple is usually a large, single-trunked tree, maximum height 135 feet, circumference (at 4 1/2 feet) 12.17 feet. There is a possibility that in areas where more than one of the four species occurs together (such as here in northwest Georgia) that intergradation may occur. Since this is the first of the 4 species of "sugar" maples discussed, a few words about the bark is in order. Many times the bark will appear black as though having been burnt (especially A. leucoderme and A. floridanum). Age of the tree doesn't seem to be a factor. I've seen trees side-by-side in the woods, one with black bark, one natural. The best explanation I can come up with is that woodpeckers peck the trees, the sap runs down the trunk, and, gradually turns black. The species name "floridanum" means of or from Florida.

Separating Characteristics

The most reliable feature is the leaves**, particularly the lower leaf surface, referred to by botanists as the abaxial leaf surface. The lower leaf surface of Acer floridanum is whitish in color, with a glaucous (covered with a silvery or bluish-green waxy or powdery bloom) coating that you can rub off with your thumb. The leaves are relatively flat in this species, and according to some sources the leaves of this species and chalk maple are from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches across, whereas those of northern sugar maple and black maple are purported to be 3 to 6 inches across. I have found leaf size not to be a very reliable characteristic. Another variable character, which may be reliable if you look at a large number of leaves is that the terminal lobe of the leaves are widest toward the tip, whereas the majority of chalk maple leaves have the terminal lobe widest at the base. The young bark probably can't be distinguished from the other sugar maples, but on older trees the bark is dark and develops long vertical peeling plates.

**see the Leaf Comparison Chart on the Acer saccharum page

Habitat

Bottomland forests, mesic slopes, especially common over mafic or calcareous rocks, but not at all limited to such situations. It is widely planted in southern cities and towns as a street tree.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

Native Range

The range of Florida maple is discontinuous in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain from southeastern Virginia southwest across North and South Carolina and Georgia, into the Florida Panhandle. The range continues west across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, into eastern Texas, and north across Arkansas into eastern Oklahoma. The species is also found in isolated spots halfway down the Gulf Coast of the Florida peninsula and in central Oklahoma.

The native range of Acer floridanum (Southern Sugar Maple)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Acer floridanum (Southern Sugar Maple)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.