boxelder
Family
AceraceaeScientific Name
Acer negundo
Other Common Names:
boxelder maple
ash-leaf maple
maple ash
three-leaf maple
Leaves
The leaves are opposite, 13-20 cm long, pinnatelycompound with 3(-5 or more) leaflets 5-10 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, long-pointed, coarsely toothed andoften shallowly lobed.
Identifying Characteristics
Maple Family (Aceraceae): Boxelder is a native tree growing to 20 m tall, with broad rounded
crown, usually developing a shallow, fibrous root system; bark light gray-brown with shallow fissures, becoming deeply furrowed; twigs slender, shiny green, usually glabrous but sometimes hairy. Flowering: March-May (with or just before the leaves), fruiting: August-October. The flowers are wind pollinated but also visited by bees.
Flower Seed Head
The flowers are yellow-green, about 5 mm long, the male (staminate) flowers fascicled, the female (pistillate) flowers in drooping racemes; most trees are either male or female (species is essentially dioecious), but bisexual flowers occur on a few trees (technically polygamo-dioecious).
Seed Fruit
Fruits are winged nutlets (samaras) in a pair, 2.5-4 cm long, clustered on long stalks.
Where Found
the eastern half of the US, with naturalized western outlyers
Growth Habit
woody bush or tree
Thorns or Spines
not present
Flower Symmetry
radial symmetery
Leaf Hairs
Varies:
has hairs,
no hairs
Leaf Shape
Varies:
lance,
oval
Leaf Arrangement
opposite
Leaf Margin
serrated
Leaf Structure
Varies:
trifoliate,
pinnate
Leaf Stalk
shorter than leaf
Stem Hairs
no hairs
Stem Cross Section
round or oval
Milky Sap
not present
Life Cycle
perennial
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Tree