Silver Maple
Silver Maple- Acer saccharinum
Description of Plant
Leaf: 4-6 inches in
length and nearly as wide. The leaves are doubly saw-toothed with 5 main veins
coming from the base. Dull green above turning, turning pale yellow in the
autumn. They are broadly ovate, deeply lobed and long pointed. The middle lobe
is often 3 lobed.
Flower: 6mm in
length with greenish-yellow flowers crowded in nearly stalk-less clusters. Male
and female are in separate clusters, they appear in the late winter or very
early spring before leaves.
Fruit: 1-seeded
and matures in the spring. The fruit is 4-6 cm in length including the long
broad wing. The wings are widely forked and paired.
Twig: Have a
slightly unpleasant odor when crushed and are light green to brown in color.
They are long, spreading and often slightly spreading.
Bark: Gray and
becomes deeply furrowed into long scaly shaggy ridges.
Form: A large tree
with a short, stout trunk and a few large forks that spread into an irregular
crown of long curving branches and graceful cut leaves.
Description of the Plant
The Silver Maple
is a popular shade tree but its form is not pleasing because the branches are
quite brittle and easily broken during windstorms. The abundant fruit of this
tree can also create a litter problem. Although it is possible to obtain sugar
from the sap the yield is very low.
Copyright
© Sue Grabowski,
Gail Slowinski, Carl Schurz High School 2003
References
Coombes, Allen, J,
Smithsonian Handbook of Trees, Dorling Kindersley,
Little, Elbert,
L., Field Guide to Trees, Alfred A.
Symonds, George,
W.D., The Tree Identification Book, Quill Publishing,