Black maple is native to eastern and central US and is closely related to sugar maple - can be tapped for syrup! Makes a great shade tree and is long-lived.
 
Plant Characteristics:
Grows to 100' tall.
 
Prefers full sun to part shade. 
 
Average to moist, well-drained soil.

Tolerates black walnuts. 
 
Fall foliage is yellow to orange. 
 
Leaves curl slightly backward compared to other maples
 
Wildlife value:
While not showy, flowers appear with the leaves in April-May and are an important early food for pollinators.
 
A keystone species, the leaves, plant juices, wood, and other parts of maples are a food source for many insects, including Rosy Maple Moth (and 296 other species of Lepidoptera in central Ohio), beetles, weevils, aphids, leafhoppers, wood wasps, Maple Mealybug, and Maple Spider Mite. Other insects feed on the sap when the bark is damaged. These include honeybees, Andrenid bees, Braconid wasps, sawflies, Syrphid flies, Tachinid flies, Calliphorid flies, Muscid flies, sap flies, dung flies, skipper flies, and various forest butterflies, such as the Mourning Cloak, Eastern Comma, Question Mark, and Red-spotted Purple.
 
Vertebrate animals use maples as a source of food and protective cover. Some upland gamebirds and songbirds eat the seeds, buds, or sap of these trees. Among mammal species, the wood and bark are eaten by the American Beaver and North American Porcupine. The twigs and foliage are eaten by White-tailed Deer. The seeds are eaten by the Prairie Vole, Meadow Vole, White-footed Mouse, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Fox Squirrel, American Red Squirrel, and Eastern Chipmunk, while the Southern Flying Squirrel feeds on the sap. Because of heart rot, old maple trees provide dens for tree squirrels and such cavity-nesting birds as the Black-Capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, and Screech Owl. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Baltimore Oriole, American Robin, Red-eyed Vireo, and other birds construct nests on branches of maples that vary in size from small saplings to mature trees. In addition to birds, some species of bats use maples as roost trees and for maternity colonies.
 
Medicinal, Edible and Other Uses:
Can be tapped for syrup.  Seeds can be boiled and roasted. The inner bark can be cooked, dried, and ground into a powder that can be used as a thickener.
                                                                   Full profile to come!