Download Acer saccharinum

SILVER MAPLE
All native Maple species contain sugar in their sap. However, some species have very
little sugar in their sap. One of those species is the Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum L.).
Silver Maple is a member of the Order Sapindales, the Family Aceraceae or
Sapindaceae, and the Subfamily Hippocastanoideae. The generic name, Acer, is Latin for
“sharp”, probably referring to its leaves. It may have come from the ancient word, Ac,
which is also “sharp”. Acer is also Celtic for “hard”, probably referring to the Hard
Maples. The specific epithet, saccharinum, is Latin for “sugary”. The common name,
Maple is from the Anglo-Saxon words mapel or mapil.
Previous scientific names for this species were Acer dasycarpum Ehrhart, Acer
saccharophorum K. Koch, Argentacer saccharinum (L.) Small, and Saccharodendron
saccharum (Marshall) Moldenke. Other common names for this species are Creek Maple,
Papascowood, River Maple, Silver-leaf Maple, Soft Maple, Swamp Maple, Water Maple,
and White Maple.
Silver Maples may hybridize with Red Maples (Acer rubrum L.), especially if the
female parent is the Red Maple. The hybrid, which is an intermediate, is called the
Freeman’s Maple (Acer x freemanii A.E. Murray [rubrum x saccharinum]).
DESCRIPTION OF THE SILVER MAPLE
Size: Silver Maples are fast growing but are short-lived trees. During their first 50 years
they may grow ½ inch in diameter every year.
Height: Its height is 40-120 feet.
Diameter: Its trunk diameter is 1-5 feet.
Trunk: Its trunk in the forest is tall. Its trunk in the open is short and is often divided into
multiple trunks.
Crown: Its crown is wide spreading, oval- or round-topped, broad, and open. It is about
30-60 feet wide. The branches arch and droop but turn upwards at their tips.
Leaves: Its leaves are deciduous, simple, opposite, and thin. Each leaf is 2-12 inches
long; about 2/3 as wide; and has 5 narrow, deeply notched, pointed lobes. The lobes are
U-shaped or V-shaped. The base of the terminal lobe is narrow. These leaves are dull to
light green and smooth above and are silvery white and slightly hairy below. This leaf has
5 palmate veins radiating from its base. Its margins are doubly sharply toothed. Its
petioles are slender, smooth, drooping, reddish, and about 3-4 inches long.
In the fall, these leaves turn light yellow or orange. A few of the leaf tips may have
some red.
Flowers: Its flowers are arranged in small, sessile, dense, panicled or umbelled clusters.
Each flower is about ¼ inches long and has a 5-lobed calyx but no corolla.
The male flowers are greenish yellow and have 3-7 stamens. The female flowers are
reddish yellow to pink brown and have a hairy ovary. Both male and female flowers are
found upon the same tree or upon separate trees. Sometimes, a flower may have both the
male and the female flowering parts. These flowers are wind pollinated.
Flowering season is February to May. These flowers usually emerge before the leaves
unfold. They are the earliest of the Maples to flower. However, a late seasonal frost can
be fatal to these early flowers.
Fruits: Its fruits are large winged double samaras. An aborted seed may yield only 1
wing. Each fruit is about 1½-3 inches long, single-seeded, light yellow-brown, hairless,
and is widely angled to about 90 degrees. These fruits are the largest fruits of our native
Maples. Its seed case is ribbed and wrinkled and its wings are veined.
The fruits are suspended upon slender stalks and in clusters. These trees usually have a
good annual seed crop. They drop singly and spread by wind or by water. They germinate
as soon as they come into contact with a suitable site. Fruiting season is usually April to
June.
Twigs: Its twigs are green when young and orange to red-brown when mature. Each twig
is smooth, hairless, and slender. It has U- or V-shaped leaf scars with 3-7 bundle scars.
There are no stipule scars. Its pith is pink, rounded, and continuous. When broken, these
twigs emit a foul odor.
Buds: Its lateral buds are opposite, conical, smooth, red to dark red-brown, and about
1/8-¼ inch long. Its terminal buds are larger and are blunt or globose. These buds have 24 pairs of overlapping scales with hairy margins.
Bark: The young trees have thin, smooth, and silvery gray bark. This bark may have a
brownish tinge and a few vertical cracks. The mature trees have fissured; shaggy; and
gray, gray-brown, or dark red brown bark. This bark has more vertical cracks with an
orange tinge and has long vertical, plate-like strips or scales that often detach and curl
outwards at 1 or both ends.
Wood: Its wood is moderately hard, moderately heavy, moderately strong, and stiff. It is
also brittle and wet. This wood is close- and straight-grained, diffuse-porous, and finetextured. The heartwood is light brown and the sapwood is wide and nearly white. When
exposed to air, the wood often turns bluish.
Roots: Its roots are shallow and horizontal.
Habitats: Its habitats consist of riverbanks, floodplains, bottomlands, lake and pond
margins, and swamps. They cannot tolerate prolonged flooding. However, it can grow in
drier areas. This tree is moderately shade tolerant on good sites but is shade intolerant on
poor sites.
Range: Its range covers much of the eastern U.S. and Canada as far west as the Great
Plains. However, this tree does not inhabit the upper Great Lakes, Florida, the Atlantic
Coast, or the Gulf Coast.
Uses of the Silver Maple:
Silver Maple has many uses for wildlife. Squirrels (Family Sciuridae) eat the flower
buds. Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis L.), other Songbirds (Suborder Passeri),
Foxes (Tribe Vulpini), Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus L.), and other Rodents (Order
Rodentia) eat the seeds. North American Beavers (Castor canadensis Kuhl) and Whitetailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) eat the inner bark. Black Ducks (Anas
rubripes Brewster), Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa L.), Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala
clangula L.), Woodepeckers (Subfamily Picinae), Owls (Order Strigiformes), Virginia
Opossums (Didelphis virginiana Kerr), Squirrels, and Raccoons (Procyon lotor L.) all
make homes within the hollowed trunks.
Silver Maple was sometimes used as a shade or an ornamental tree. It can easily
tolerate urban situations. However, it had its drawbacks. Its brittle branches can easily
break in windstorms, snowstorms, or ice storms. Its roots can clog drains and pipes and
can lift and heave driveways and sidewalks. Its numerous seeds can create litter
problems. Because of these many drawbacks, Silver Maples are now less desirable as
shade and ornamental trees.
Although Silver Maple is considered a soft maple by the lumber industry and has low
economic value, its wood is easily worked and has some uses. The wood is used for
pulpwood, fuel, railroad ties, inexpensive furniture, cabinetry, musical instruments, tool
handles, flooring, veneer, woodenware, boxes, crates, and pallets. The wood takes stains
and other finished easily. It also takes glue and holds nails. This wood breaks and splits
easily but won’t shrink or warp.
Like Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marshall), Silver Maple can be tapped for maple
syrup. Although the Silver Maple sap has lighter and sweeter sugar than the Sugar Maple,
its sugar content is about ½ that of Sugar Maple sap. The wood, the bark, and the sap of
the Silver Maple all contain tannic acid.
Silver Maples have some other edible uses. The inner bark can be dried, ground, and
mixed with flour to make bread. The young leaves have sugar and can be eaten raw or
cooked. The young fruits and be pickled. Although the seeds are bitter, they can be boiled
in several changes of water.
Silver Maples have some medicinal uses, too. An inner bark infusion can be used for
stomach and intestinal ailments, for coughs, as eyewash, and as a diuretic.
Insect Pests and Diseases:
Silver Maples have their own insect pests and diseases. Some of the insect pests
include the Asian Longhorn Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky), the
Cottony Maple Scale (Pulvinaria innumerabilis Rathvon), and the Woolly Maple Blight
Aphid (Paraprociphilus tessellates Fitch). It is susceptible to diseases like Verticilium
Wilt, Anthracnose, Leaf Spot, and Tar Spot.
REFERENCES
MICHIGAN TREES
By Burton V. Barnes and Warren H. Wagner, Jr.
AN ECLECTIC GUIDE TO TREES (EAST OF THE ROCKIES)
By Glen Blouin
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By Francois Couplan, Ph. D.
TREES OF PENNSYLVANIA AND THE NORTHEAST
By Charles Fergus and Amelia Hansen
EDIBLE WILD PLANTS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
By Merritt Lyndon Fernald and Alfred Charles Kinsey
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By William H. Harlow
101 TREES OF INDIANA
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By Don Kurz
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REGION)
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By Arthur Plotnik
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By Richard J. Preston Jr., and Richard R. Braham
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By T. Davis Sydnor and William F. Cowen
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By William Trelease
BARK: A FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF THE NORTHEAST
By Michael Wojtech
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharinum