How do trees make sweet edible sap in spring?

How do trees make sweet edible sap in spring? At the end of winter, sap of temperate broadleaf eudicot trees provides energy-rich sugars for animals and peoples of North America. Here, I conduct a multi-disciplinary synthesis to elucidate a theory of sap production and movement at a 'whole tree' level. I begin by contrasting settler knowledge to Indigenous knowledge of maples, and describe how "two-eyed seeing" may be used to address settler appropriation of maples and begin to decolonize maple provisions. Second, with a synthesis of scientific literature I show that sugars are not just byproducts of sap movement, but are signaling molecules that reveal a blurred functional distinction between xylem and phloem. I propose numerous predictions from my theory of sap movement. Finally, when testing whether spring xylem sap sugar concentration correlates with number of cells in the width of xylem rays I found significant positive correlation.