Maple Hardwood Trees
Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce.
Maple hardwood trees. With leaves that look very similar to the sugar maple the silver maple s leaves are thinner with more defined points. It grows natively in the northeastern regions of the united states and can reach a height of more than 100 feet at maturity. Acer ˈ eɪ s ər is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples the genus is placed in the family sapindaceae. The sugar maple tree or acer saccharum is classified as a hard hardwood maple tree.
The wood of the sugar maple is strong heavy and hard with a light brown to reddish color. The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category. The type species of the genus is the sycamore maple. Hardwood trees usually have broad flat leaves as opposed to coniferous needled or scaled tree foliage another name for a hardwood tree is appropriately broadleaf.
Now it may look like hard maple is heads and tails above the rest and to a certain extent it is but for reference black cherry has a janka hardness of 950 lb f the same as red maple and black walnut is rated at 1 010 lb f 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. There are approximately 128 species most of which are native to asia with a number also appearing in europe northern africa and north america only one species acer laurinum extends to the southern hemisphere. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple. A sugar maple s wood is the most dense of all maple wood and is used frequently in furniture and flooring.
Most but not all hardwoods are deciduous perennial plants which are normally leafless for some time during the year. Acer saccharum the sugar maple or rock maple is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family sapindaceae it is native to the hardwood forests of eastern canada from nova scotia west through southern quebec central and southern ontario to southeastern manitoba around lake of the woods and the northern parts of the central and northeastern united states from minnesota. Some of the most popular species of hardwoods are oak maple hickory walnut and cherry trees.