The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook American Heritage Coll. Acer, the principal genus, includes the many maples and the box elder.
Maples are popular as shade trees and often have brilliantly colored foliage in the fall.
Their strong, close-grained, easily worked hardwood is used in shipbuilding and aircraft construction, for floors, fuel, and wood pulp, and in many other industries. Bird's-eye and curly maple are decorative cuts used for cabinetmaking. In addition, these two maples are the main sources of maple sugar. Several European and Japanese maples have been introduced to the United States as ornamentals. The only other genus of the family is Dipteronia, consisting of two species indigenous to China.