Acer saccharum var. schneckii - Washington Park Arboretum, accession 1962. Van Gelderen and Van Gelderen, in Maples for Gardens (Timber Press 1999), state that the leaves are five-lobed, "the veins softly pubescent underneath and petioles villous" and that this variety is "[o]nly slightly different from subspecies saccharum." It is native to eleven states in the midwest and east of the United States.
When VG & VG say "[o]nly slightly different from subspecies saccharum.", does that mean they consider it a subspecies rather than a variety? Checking USDA Plants Profile http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=ACSAS2 they only accord it varietal status, which seems reasonable given the fully overlapping ranges (i.e., no difference in climatic adaptation etc)
I read it that they are just pointing out the distinction is minor, without getting into what might be done about it.
