Trees & woodland lore · Western North Carolina field companion
Southern sugar maple
Acer floridanum
Southern sugar maple foliage in autumn, photographed at the Berlin Botanical Garden. Compare the shallow lobes and the pale lower surface across several mature leaves.☀ Full sun · ◐ Part sun or part shadeBotBln ↗ · CC BY-SA 3.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; no diagnostic content altered.
Smaller, heat-tolerant sugar-maple relative; suited to drained sites.
Leaves resemble small sugar-maple leaves with relatively shallow lobes. Underside color and hairs help, but size alone is insufficient.
More growing details
Read the bark
Gray bark becomes ridged and furrowed with age.
Fruit & seed
Paired samaras identify the maple group; inspect leaves and a regional key to resolve the species.
Winter character
Opposite pointed buds support a sugar-maple-group identification.
Origin & place
A southeastern native associated mainly with lower-elevation regions. It is not interchangeable with the common mountain sugar maple.
Compare with Sugar maple
They are closely related and treated differently by some floras; use several mature leaves and a regional botanical key.
WNC Notes
Smaller, heat-tolerant sugar-maple relative; suited to drained sites.
Sun Exposure
Full sun–part shade
MATURE HEIGHT (FT)
25–40
MATURE WIDTH (FT)
20–35
BLOOM SEASON
Spring
BLOOM COLOR
Greenish yellow
FALL / WINTER COLOR
Yellow-orange
Wet-Soil Tolerance
Low–moderate
Drought Tolerance
High
LOOK CLOSELY
Two views, a closer look.
Place two photographs beside one another. Compare the overall plant with leaves, flowers, or bark when those views are available. Captions identify what each photograph actually shows. Images are not at the same scale; species references may show different cultivars.
Southern sugar maple foliage in autumn, photographed at the Berlin Botanical Garden. Compare the shallow lobes and the pale lower surface across several mature leaves.☀ Full sun · ◐ Part sun or part shadeBotBln ↗ · CC BY-SA 3.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; no diagnostic content altered.Smooth bark with mottled light & dark grey patches — species reference; cultivar identity not inferred.☀ Full sun · ◐ Part sun or part shadeDavid J. Stang ↗ · CC-BY-SA 2.0Photo contextResized and converted to WebP; full original composition retained.
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