Maple Trees...

Silver Maple:
Acer saccharinum L

Habitat: Silver maples grow in the southeastern parts of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Forest Region. They are less shade tolerant than the Red maple and flourish on rich, moist bottom lands bordering streams, swamps, and lakeshores.

Size and Form: The fast growing Silver maple may be up to 35 m high and 100 cm in diameter. The crown is round and broad and held up by curbing brittle branches. The trunk grows longer in the forest than in the open where it commonly divided near the ground into a few sharply upward branches. Often the trunk of this tree is covered with shoots and suckers.

Leaves: The leaves have 5 narrow pointed lobes separated by deep notches. The overall size is from 15 to 20 cm and the leaf is widest above base. Veins extend from slender leafstalk to the pointed tip of each lobe. The edges of the leaf have very coarse sharp teeth. The surface is light green with a silver-white underside. In autumn, the leaves turn pale yellow or brown.

Fruits and Seeds: The keys mature early and shed in late spring when the leaves are fully developed. Wings from 40 to 70 mm long and have an angle between them about 90 degrees. Only one side of the thick, ribbed seed case produces a viable seed. Since the seeds form early, it is able to germinate and produce several leaves before winter.

Flowers: The Silver maple flowers in early spring before the leaves appear making it the earliest species to flower. These greenish-red budlike flowers have no petals and present themselves as dense clumps on short stalks. Both male and female flowers appear on different clusters on the same tree.

Vegetative Reproduction: Successful reproduction can be made from stem cuttings. It is common for the tree to reproduce itself from dormant buds in a cut stump.

Bark: When young, the bark is smooth and grey. The bark of a mature Silver maple has loose narrow flakes fastened at the centre and free at both ends. This characteristic adds a shaggy appearance to the reddish brown bark. The twigs are stout and slightly drooping. They have a shiny appearance and no hairs. An unpleasant odour comes from the twigs if they are bruised.

Wood: The wood is light yellowish brown in colour. It is not very strong but it is heavy and moderately hard.

Quick Recognition: This is a large tree with a short trunk dividing into a number of limbs which form a broad crown. The larger branches arch out and dip down before turning upward again.

Notes:The Silver maple somewhat resembles the Red maple and hybrids between the two species are common. It is often planted as an ornamental tree.There arenegative aspects such as a heavy leaf and seed fall combined with wide spreading roots. Roots are known to cause havoc with sewer pipes. Limbs of the Silver maple are brittle and break easily. The Silver maple's life span averages 120 years.