FAMILY: SAPINDACEAE (formerly ACERACEAE)
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: white maple
LEAVES: opposite, simple, deciduous; 5 palmate lobes, the terminal (central) lobe usually more than half as long as the entire leaf blade; margins doubly toothed; silvery lower surface; red petioles
FLOWER: monoecious or dioecious; greenish
to yellow; appear before leaves; February
FRUIT: samara, wings 1.5 - 2 inches long;
germinates immediately
TWIGS: slender, dark red, shiny; fetid
odor inside
BARK: silver-gray on young trees; long,
thin scaly plates on older trees
FORM: medium tree; 60-80 feet tall, 2-3
feet diameter; multiple stems; weak crotches
HABITAT: river banks and batture forests
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE [MAP]: eastern US
USES: seed - birds and mammals, especially
good at maturity; twigs - browse for mammals deer, moose,
rabbits, beavers; wood is of medium quality (soft maple);
sap - 1:50 or more per gallon syrup
Best Recognition Features:
- opposite leaves and branching
- deeply incised 5-lobed leaf with central lobe being more than half as long as the entire leaf blade; V-shaped sinuses
- silvery lower surface of leaf with fine appressed pubescence, glabrous upper surface
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