American maple: description

This beautiful deciduous tree reaches up to 21 meters in height, and its width is sometimes 90 cm, but the usual variations are 30-60 cm. The crown of the tree is uneven. The trunk is short and at the base sometimes divided into long, sprawling, often curved processes that diverge unevenly in different directions, creating a spasmodic crown. If the American maple grows among other trees, its trunk branches out higher. It turns out a rare and high crown.

American maple grows very quickly in youth, so it is widely used for gardening. In addition, it is cold and resistant to minus 40 degrees. The tree loves sunlight, and to the soil is not particularly demanding. Perfectly feels in urban conditions. American maple lives no more than 80-100 years, which is not very long for a tree, and even less in street plantings - up to 30 years.

The tree is very brittle. The speed of growth, ease of reproduction and unpretentiousness made it popular among the people. Still, low decorative qualities and fragility allow it to be used as a temporary breed for achieving a rapid greening effect. It can be combined in linear and group plantings with highly decorative species, which grow more slowly.

Maple leaves, photos of which you can see, opposite, complex odd-pinned. They have from 3 to 7 leaflets 15-18 cm long. They are light green in the upper part, and in the lower pale silvery-white, smooth to the touch. The leaves of the maple are somewhat like the leaves of an ash tree. Their forms are different, but the individual sheets well resemble a classic maple leaf. In the fall they type yellow.

American maple in natural conditions is found in tugai forests, as well as in swampy areas of Canada and the USA. In the northeastern part, the range is limited to the states of New York and New Jersey, and the north-western part is to the southern areas of the Canadian province of Ontario. In the southwest is central Texas, and the southeast is the central part of Florida. Nevertheless, individual populations can occur in California, Mexico, the Midwest and Guatemala.

American maple is unpretentious to soil conditions, but it grows better on fresh fertile soils, especially if the place is well-lit. It is mobile and very active, has a high growth rate, and to air pollution is well-stable. In the vicinity of cities and towns can spread self-sowing, however, soon it is introduced into the natural communities, becoming a weed. Already at the age of 6-7 years the tree enters the stage of fruiting, so that the generation change occurs faster than in other trees.

Light, soft, fragile and fine-grained wood, which has an American maple, is rarely used. Of it, mainly made wooden packaging, household items and cheap furniture.

In the world there are a lot of varieties of maples. They are very different. For example, maple sugar, growing much slower than American maple, and more durable, poorly feels in the city, and its wood is much harder.