Is Maple A Hardwood Tree

It grows natively in the northeastern regions of the united states and can reach a height of more than 100 feet at maturity.

Is maple a hardwood tree.

Silver maple this tree is close behind the sugar maple in terms of being the most prolific tree in north america. That would depend on the type of hardwood but generally the name comes from the tree type. Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. The sugar maple tree or acer saccharum is classified as a hard hardwood maple tree.

With leaves that look very similar to the sugar maple the silver maple s leaves are thinner with more defined points. The maple tree is a member of a group of 200 species of trees and shrubs worldwide that belong to the acer family. With care it machines well turns well glues satisfactorily and can be stained to an outstanding finish. Hard maple ought to be considered the king of the acer genus.

The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category. This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark. A few well known hardwood species are oak maple and cherry but many. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple.

In fact about 40 percent of american trees are in the hardwood category. All maples are hardwoods but the species found in america are further classified as hard or soft maples. Also note that black maple not pictured isn t quite as hard as its close relative hard maple and ranks in the mid range with a hardness of 1 180 lb f. Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce.

A sugar maple s wood is the most dense of all maple wood and is used frequently in furniture and flooring. Hardwoods such as red cedar elm cherry balsa teak mahogany maple and oak. The most common hard maple is the sugar or rock maple. Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain known as flame maple quilt maple birdseye maple and burl wood.

The wood of the sugar maple is strong heavy and hard with a light brown to reddish color. It s also the state tree in four different states in the us for more information please see the article on the differences between hard maple and soft. They produce a fruit or nut and often go dormant in the winter. America s forests contain hundreds of different hardwood tree species.

The trees have broad leaves rather than needle like leaves.