Caddo Maple

COMMON NAMES: Caddo maple

BOTANICAL NAME: Acer saccharum ‘Caddo’

PRONUNCIATION: A-sir sah-KAR-um CAD-oh

FAMILY: Aceraceae (Maple Family)

TYPE: Deciduous tree

HEIGHT: 50 to 60 feet

SPREAD: 25 to 35 feet

FINAL SPACING: 20 to 30 feet


NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE: Caddo maple is native to parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas although it has been called a native Texas plant. That doesn’t seem to be able to be confirmed.

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION: Upright, rounded shade tree with attractive foliage in the summer, beautiful fall color and a neat clean appearance. Has golden yellow fall color.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT: Fairly showy flowers in the spring followed by samaras (winged seeds) in the fall.

BARK: Caddo maple has a thin light gray to tan bark that darkens with age.

FOLIAGE: Dark green summer foliage. The leaves are thick and sturdy with golden yellow to salmon shades – beautiful fall color.

CULTURE: Easy to grow tree in almost any soil including rocky alkaline soils, as long as the drainage is good. Caddo maple is a drought tolerant plant, grows in full sun and needs very little fertilization.

PROBLEMS: Finding the plant in the nursery industry is the biggest problem but it is getting easier every year.

PROPAGATION: Like all maples, it is best propagated by seed. There is not much information on growing it from stem cuttings available, but most maples are hard to propagate from stem cuttings.

INSIGHT: Caddo maple is one of the best of the large-growing maple trees for the alkaline soils of Texas. It really should be used quite a bit more as soon as the availability increases.

  Search Library Topics      Search Newspaper Columns