404 TREES IN WINTER 



SILVER MAPLE 



White, River, or Soft Maple. 



Acer saccharinum L. 



A. dasycarpuni Ehrh. 



HABIT — A good sized tree 50-60 ft. high with trunk diameter of 

 2-5 ft.; dividing near the ground into several slightly spreading limbs 

 which branch further up, forming a very wide, broad-topped head. 

 Lateral branchlets strongly tend to grow downward and then curve 

 sharply upward at their tips. 



BARK — Smooth, gray, with reddish tinge on young trunks and 

 branches; on older trunks reddish-brown more or less furrowed; the 

 surface separating into long thin flakes which become free at the ends 

 and flake off exposing the redder inner layers. 



TW'IGS — Similar to those of Red Maple but with a distinct rank odor 

 when freshly cut or broken. 



liEAF-SCARS — Similar to those of Red Maple. 



BUDS — Similar to those of the Red Maple but generally somewhat 

 larger, the flower buds more densely clustered with a larger number of 

 buds in a cluster. 



FRUIT— Large, 4-7 cm. long, wings spreading, in lateral clusters, 

 ripening in early spring and therefore difficult to find in winter. 



COMPARISONS — The Silver Maple closely resembles the Red Maple in 

 twig characters but can be readily distinguished from the latter by 

 the rank odor of the fresh twigs when broken. The flakiness of the 

 bark of the Silver Maple is also distinctive. The bending down of the 

 branchlets with a sharp upward curve at their tips while much more 

 marked in the Silver Maple occurs to a certain extent in the Red and 

 therefore cannot be depended upon alone as a distinctive character. If 

 the flower buds be dissected out and examined with a hand-lens the 

 immature flowers of the Silver Maple will be found to be surrounded by 

 a cup-like calyx which in the Red Maple is made up of separate 

 divisions. See under Red Maple for Comparisons with other species. 



DISTRIBUTION — Along river banks and in moist, deep-soiled woods, 

 not typically in swamps; often planted for ornament under the name 

 of White Maple. Infrequent from New Brunswick to Ottawa, abundant 

 from Ottawa throughout Ontario; south to the Gulf states; west to 

 Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma; attaining its maximum 

 size in the basins of the Ohio and its tributaries; rare towards the 

 seacoast throughout the whole range. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Occasional throughout; most common and best 

 developed upon the banks of rivers and lakes at low altitudes. 



WOOD — Hard, strong, close-grained, easily worked, rather brittle, pale 

 brown with thick sapwood of 40-50 layers of annual growth; now some- 

 times used for flooring and in the manufacture of furniture. Sugar is 

 occasionally made from the sap. 



