BLACK SUGAR MAPLE
Acer saccharum nigrum, (Michx. f.) Britt.
Form.—Height 75-90 feet, diameter 2-3½ feet; trunk and crown as in sugar maple.
Leaves.—Opposite, simple, 5-6 inches long, wider than long, 3-5-lobed, the lower lobes often reduced to a shallow rounded tooth, thick and firm, green and usually downy beneath.
Flowers.—May, with the leaves; monoecious, arranged in umbel-like corymbs, yellow, on slender, hairy pedicels.
Fruit.—Matures in autumn; paired samaras clustered on drooping pedicels, wings slightly diverging.
Bark.—Usually very dark gray, furrowed deeply.
Wood.—Hard, heavy, strong, close-grained, light yellow or brownish, with thin, lighter sapwood.