# Chalk Maple (Acer 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.

Also called whitebark maple, Acer saccharum subsp. leucoderme. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chalk-maple/

![Chalk maple (Acer leucoderme) leaves in orange and red fall color against a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/chalk-maple-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Scott Zona, CC BY 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAcer_leucoderme_%286351476580%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 25 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9
- 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 (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas). Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range
- Sun: Part, Full, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Fall color, Drought tolerant, Tolerates shade, Rare, Winter interest, Street tree, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

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.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Acer leucoderme](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/acer-leucoderme/)
- [University of Florida IFAS Extension, ENH-178: Acer leucoderme, Chalk Maple (Gilman and Watson, 1993, reviewed 2003)](https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/download/140619/145696/286689)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Acer leucoderme](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ACLE)
- [The University of Alabama Arboretum: Chalk Maple, Acer leucoderme](https://arboretum.ua.edu/whats-growing-on/chalk-maple-acer-leucoderme/)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC: Maple](https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/maple/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Acer leucoderme](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.160863/Acer_leucoderme)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Acer leucoderme, D. Crowley 2024](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/acer/acer-leucoderme/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Acer chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Acer.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Why native trees become rare, and ten rare eastern species worth growing](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-native-trees-become-rare/index.html.md)
- [Why leaves turn red and yellow in fall, and which native trees give each color](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-leaves-turn-red-and-yellow-in-fall/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Chalk Maple, add ?species=chalk-maple with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=chalk-maple&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Chalk Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=chalk-maple): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=chalk-maple
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Chalk Maple is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=chalk-maple
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Chalk Maple needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=chalk-maple:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Chalk Maple flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.