Acer saccharinum
Common name:
Silver Maple
Pronunciation:
A-ser sak-kar-I-num
Family:
Sapindaceae, Aceraceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Broadleaf deciduous tree, 80-100 ft (24-30 m), ascending branches, rounded form. Bark smooth, gray when young, becoming shaggy with age. Leaves opposite, simple, 8-15 cm across and 15-17 cm long, deeply lobed (5-7 lobes), coarse, sharp, irregular teeth, bright green above and silvery white below and pubescent when young; petiole 8-12 cm long. (Compare to other common landscape maples.) Fall leaf color is yellow, brown and rarely red. Flowers short stalked, red to greenish, without petals; appear in late winter and long before the leaves. Fruit (samara), wings 2.5-5 cm long and about a right angle between them, mature in late spring.
- Sun, rapid growing, but "falls apart" when older. Not a long-lived tree. Easy to grow, but will lift sidewalks and clog drain pipes. One of the best trees for poor soil, but is suffers severely from leaf chlorosis (iron deficiency) on alkaline soils with a pH greater than 7.5. In its native habitat found along streams; it can survive weeks of inundation.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3 Native range from Quebec east to Minnesota, south to Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida.
- Corvallis: SE corner Washington Ave. and 5th St.
- Oregon State Univ. campus: behind Avery Lodge on Madison Ave. west of 9th St.
Click image to enlarge
-
plant habit, spring flowering
-
flowers
-
fruit (seeds)
-
plant habit, summer
-
plant habit, summer
-
plant habit, summer
-
leaves
-
leafy shoot
-
leaves
-
plant habit, fall
-
leaves, fall
-
trunk, bark
-
winter twigs, buds
