Norway maple

Photo: Martin Bobka (= Martin120) — CC BY-SA 2.5 · source

Survives zone 4 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Spring sap tapped for syrup — around 3.2% sugar, a good tappable European maple.

Hardiness

Zone 4–7

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Sap

Ripens

Late winter (sap run)

Mature size

Large tree 20–30 m — not containerable

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Europe and western Asia — Norway and France east to the Caucasus and Iran. ⚠ Seriously invasive across much of north-eastern North America, where it shades out native forest understorey; banned from sale in several states.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

10+ yrs (sap)

Growth speed

45–75 cm/year — fast.

Spacing

1000 cm (394 in) apart — about 100 m² (1076 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Opposite, 10–15 cm long and slightly wider, with five broad-based lobes each tapering to a fine point and carrying one or two large pointed teeth. ⚠ The certain test: snap the leaf stalk and it bleeds milky white sap, which no native North American maple does.

Root system

Shallow, woody and widely branching, casting dense shade over a mat of surface roots that little else will grow through — a large part of why it displaces native ground flora.

Fruit description

Paired samaras 3.5–5 cm long held almost flat in a straight line, close to 180° — much wider than any native maple's, and the easiest fruit character for telling it apart.

Propagation

Seed (the winged samara) needs 40–120 days moist cold stratification at 1–5°C; autumn sowing outdoors achieves this naturally. Named forms are grafted, since seedlings vary.

Pollination

Heterodichogamous and mainly insect-pollinated — populations contain both male-first and female-first individuals, so cross-pollination between the two types is the norm. Not simply self-fertile. Irrelevant to a sap crop.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.