Chalk Maple is similar to Southern Sugar Maple (Acer barbatum), but is smaller, often multi-trunked, and has leaves that are yellow-green instead of whitish underneath. The leaves often droop at the tips, looking a little like Black Maple or even English Ivy. Chalk Maple is rare and usually found in rocky areas, while Southern Sugar Maple is fairly common and usually found in bottomlands.

White Pines Preserve, Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.

The undersides of the leaves are yellowish-green and fuzzy. The color of the leaf undersides is the easiest way to tell Chalk Maple from Southern Sugar Maple.

Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.

Another example from Chatham Co., NC. Though the leaf shape is somewhat distinctive, some Southern Sugar Maple leaves look like this, too.

Detail of leaf underside. The undersides are covered with tiny yellowish glands. The hairs themselves are actually whitish.

White Pines Nature Preserve, Chatham Co., NC 11/1/08.

Like other maples, the fruits are in paired samaras (keys).

Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.

Durham Co., NC.

The name comes from the bark, which is usually smooth and pale gray, sometimes chalky-white, on small trees. Mecklenburg Co., NC.

Here's an example of chalky-white bark on a small tree. The bark itself it actually gray - the white color comes from a species of lichen. Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.

Bark of a medium-sized tree. Chatham Co., NC.

The bark on small trees is sometimes broken instead of smooth. Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.

Bark of a medium-sized tree. Chatham Co., NC 5/18/05.