Southern Sugar Maple, also known as Florida Maple, is common in rich bottomland forests. It is similar to the northern Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), which occurs in the mountains, but the leaves of A. barbatum tend to be smaller, more compact, and are white-hairy beneath. The rare Chalk Maple (Acer leucoderme) is also similar, but is a smaller tree and with yellow-hairy leaf undersides.
The leaves are whitish and fuzzy beneath.
This species is also known as Acer floridanum or Acer saccharum ssp. floridanum. Whether Acer barbatum or Acer floridanum is the correct name is still up for debate.
