Tree Time - Maple
- Louisa Austin
- Apr 13
- 4 min read
The Hardy Maple
Facts
Scientific name: Acer
Common name: Maple
There are around 132 species of maple.
Where do they grow?
It is native to Asia but also grows in Europe, northern Africa and North America, particularly Canada and the northeastern United States. The average life span is 100 years, which is how long the silver maple lives. But other maples, such as the red and sugar can live up to 300 and 400 years, respectively.
Benefits & uses of the tree
Besides the most obvious product from the maple tree being maple syrup, many other byproducts come from it.
• Maple butter
• Maple beer
• Sugar
• Maple bars – doughnut (the glaze is made from maple syrup)
• Maple is very popular for cutting boards and butcher blocks
• For hundreds of years, stringed instruments - violins, violas, and cellos - have been made from maple
• Tool handles
• Wooden bowls
• Boxes and crates
• Cabinetry
• Flooring
• Baseball bats
• Rolling pins
While there are many uses for this wood in various industries and trades, my personal favorite would have to be the maple bar. ;)
Animals, insects that live in or from the tree
Many animals and insects rely on the maple for their survival
• White-tailed deer
• Moose
• Porcupine
• Squirrels
• Snowshoe hare
• Songbirds
• Woodpeckers
• Flying squirrels
• Warblers
• Tanagers
• Caterpillars
• Elk browse on red maple
• Cavity nesters, such as:
o Northern Flicker
o Barred owls
o Common goldeneyes
o Chickadees
o Wrens
o Nuthatches
The animals eat the bark, twigs, or fruit of the sugar maple and use its branches and trunk for their home.
Cultural & Folklore
Along with maple syrup being thought of first when one hears “maple tree”, I would suspect people think of Canada just as quickly. The maple leaf has become synonymous with our northern neighbors and is Canada’s national symbol and is found on their flag and coins.
Celtic mythology
In Celtic mythology, the maple represented renewal, growth, and change. Its beautiful changing leaves in the autumn and bright green in the spring reflected the cycle of life and the beauty of change.
It was also associated with Brighid, the goddess of healing, poetry, and fertility.
Asian symbolism
In the Chinese culture it was known as the tree of tolerance, strength, and longevity. In the Chinese practice of Feng Shui, the maple is thought to bring positive energy and abundance.
In Chinese medicine, the maple leaf’s five points represent the elements that make up their medicine: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
In Japan, the maple tree represents grace and peace. “Maple” in Japanese means “rest” and the tree is significant in their tea ceremonies and haiku poetry.*
As with the Chinese belief, it also represents abundance in the Japanese culture.
And the Japanese red maple is one of the most beautiful trees in my opinion.
Medicinal uses
Early Americans used maple sap for rheumatism, arthritis, inflammatory conditions and a spring tonic, has mild anti-bacterial properties. The leaves can also be made into a tonic to support the liver and spleen.
Famous maples in pop culture
Photography
Literature
By Sylvester Baxter
Out of my window I look down
Into the yard of my neighbor,
My friend, the parish priest across the way,
And this is the picture I see:
A glowing maple rising like a fountain
Out of the emerald lawn rimmed by a close-clipped hedge
Of darker green.
All gray the sky is, but the maple
Gleams like spray in sunlight.
Out of its blazing mass
The leaves are showering
Like the sparks that fly when a smouldering fire is stirred.
They lie in drifts upon the grassy verdure
Like lightly fallen snow of gold;
They powder the sombre green of the hedge
As gilded confetti might powder the head
Of some strangely dark-haired beauty.
Film
On the darker side of things, the movie The Ring has an unsettling scene with a Japanese maple in it. It shines brightly against the backdrop of the film, while creating an eerie and scary atmosphere.
If you've seen the movie, you may have noticed this scene. In a film full of symbolism, the maple tree symbolism isn't lost. The fruit of the maple is called samara and the little girl who the movie is about is called Samara Morgan.
In Conclusion
Since I love to write about trees, but feel like I'm doing a report for school (haha), I'll just say this: the maple is one of my favorite trees because of the changing leaves and the delicious maple syrup we get from it. I have yet to go to New England to see the trees in all their autumn glory, although we get some of that here in the mountains of Utah.
I never knew about all of the uses of the maple, but even I have been educated. Join me in six weeks, when we talk about the weeping willow as I continue my "tree time" series. If you like trees as much as me, you might check out my first article about the oak, and a fun fairy story I wrote about it.
Come back on Sunday to read about the fairy that lives in a maple tree and meets two neighborhood girls who are excited to finally see a fairy.
*Haiku is one of my favorite forms of poetry for its simplicity but also trickiness in getting the format correct and actually being able to call what I wrote a poem.
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