The maples can be divided into the hard and soft maples. In the northern part of its range, maple syrup and maple sugar are made from the sap of the hard maple. Acer Saccharum Sugar maple grows throughout the eastern United States except for the South Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. Dark gray in color, deeply furrowed with long irregular thick plates. Hard and heavy, weighing about 3.6 lbs.
Wood is diffuse porous, with indistinct grain pattern, although springwood is readily evident.
Acer Rubrum Red maple grows throughout the eastern United States from Maine to Florida and westward to the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes. Dark gray in color, thin scaly plates separated by shallow fissures. Softer and lighter in weight than hard maple, weighing about 3.2 lbs. Fagus gradifolia Beech grows throughout the eastern United States except for southern Florida. The bud is also distinctive in that it looks like a miniature cigar.