Photo: Scott Zona, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Chalk Maple

Acer leucoderme

Also called whitebark maple, Acer saccharum subsp. leucoderme.

A small maple with chalky white bark and fall color from yellow to deep red, at home in sun or deep shade and on dry, rocky ground.

Fall colorDrought tolerantTolerates shadeRareWinter interestStreet treeWildlife value

Type: Small tree
Mature height: 25–30 ft
USDA zones: 5–9
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Rocky ground, rich moist slopes, stream banks and the forest understory
Native range: 11 states, north to Tennessee, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 11
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas
Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range. See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Chalk maple is a small southern relative of sugar maple that often grows on two or three trunks. Its bark turns chalky white as it ages, and that gives it its name. It grows in the understory of rocky woods, river bluffs and ravines. It is most common in Georgia and Alabama. It is quite similar to southern sugar maple, or Florida maple, and surprisingly underused. Along a street it fits a planting strip as narrow as four feet. Use it as the small shade tree of a courtyard or a dry bank, where the pale bark stands out against a dark wall.

Size, growth and what to expect

Chalk maple grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It reaches 25 to 30 feet with a rounded crown 15 to 30 feet across. On old trees the bark turns ridged and blackish at the base.

Small greenish yellow flowers open in March and April. The paired samaras, under an inch long, hang on the tree from May to September and turn brown as they ripen, and birds and small mammals eat the seeds. The leaves turn yellow, orange and deep red in fall, as bright as a sugar maple's.

It grows wild from North Carolina south to northwest Florida and west to eastern Oklahoma and Texas. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Mississippi and imperiled in Louisiana and Arkansas.

How to grow Chalk Maple

Chalk maple grows in full sun, part shade or deep shade. Give it a soil that drains well, moist to dry, acid or slightly alkaline. It tolerates dry soil, but in full sun it needs water through a dry summer. Plant it 15 feet from a wall and at least 15 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 20 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Pick the samaras off the tree as they turn brown, since fallen seed soon dies. Sow them outdoors in fall, half an inch deep in a mulched bed. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days first.

Water weekly through the first two summers. After that it needs water only in a long drought. Deer browse young maples, so guard the stem for the first few years. Train it to one trunk early if you want a single stem, or let it grow as a clump.

Male and female flowers grow on the same tree, so there are no male and female trees to pair. Bees work the early flowers for nectar. Chalk maple is a close relative of sugar maple, whose own pollen sets few good seeds, so a second tree nearby improves the crop. It has no serious pests or diseases, though it is susceptible to verticillium wilt.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (8)

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