In addition, the maple tree bares a wing type seed that spins like a helicopter propeller as it falls from the tree. The fruit, called a samara, is in the paired-winged nutlet. The samaras ripen in late spring or in the fall. The maple tree can reach a height of 150 feet and can grow to a thickness of nearly 5 feet. It has a life expectancy of about one hundred years.
Maple trees thrive in a soil that is acidic and slightly sandy.
It prefers a climate that is temperate, but some species can grow in the tropics where weather is hot and rainy. The maple has a very hard wood which makes it good for making furniture and lumber. It has a sugary sap which gives us maple syrup. Hard maple is used as a fuel, veneer, railroad ties and pulpwood. The pioneers used its ashes to make soap.