FAMILY: SAPINDACEAE (alternatively ACERACEAE)
ALTERNATE COMMON NAMES: ash-leaved maple, poison-ivy tree
LEAVES: opposite, odd-pinnately compound, deciduous; usually with 3-7 leaflets, occasionally with 9-11 leaflets; leaflet margins coarsely-toothed near tips.
FLOWER: dioecious, drooping racemes; flowers green or yellow-green, flowering in early spring, prior to or with emerging leaves.
FRUIT: paired samaras, 1-2” long; wings and seed-bearing portions green, maturing during summer, often persisting on tree over winter.
TWIGS:green to purple, stout; lateral buds hidden by dilated petiole base; tips of opposing V-shaped leaf scars meet.
BARK: green and smooth on younger shoots; bark on older stems is gray to brown and shallowly fissured.
FORM: small-to-medium sized tree, to <50’ and ca. 2’ in diameter; often with short trunk and multiple stems.
HABITAT: flood plains of major rivers as well as riparian areas along smaller rivers and streams; disturbed areas on floodplain soils.
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE : eastern US, including Great Plains, extending into Canada; scattered in the western US; Mexico and northern Central America. [USGS Range Map]
USES: Not a desired timber species, used for hardwood pulp for paper, pallets, boxes, etc.
WIDLIFE: maple seed, in general, is used by song and game birds depending upon seed maturity; the persistent nature of the fruits provide a source of food in winter; small mammals use browse, bark, buds; important squirrel food; good deer browse.
Best Recognition Features:
- opposite, trifoliate or odd-pinnately compound leaves
- greenish bloom on green to purple twigs as leaves emerge or prior to
- connecting, V-shaped leaf scars
- axillary buds hidden beneath petiole bases
NOTE: sterile material of boxelder could be confused with green or white ashes but the V-shaped leaf scars and hidden lateral buds are distinctive; leaves are superficially similar to poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), but arrangement is opposite in boxelder versus alternate in poison-ivy.
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