Silver Maple
Acer
saccharinum
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Copyright, Mark Brand,
UConn Plant Database
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 Copyright,
Mark Brand, UConn Plant Database
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Silver Maple is a
medium-sized tree, growing up to 80 feet tall. It has a very
stout trunk,
which can be over three feet wide.
Silver Maple grows on
streambanks, in marshes,
and in other places with moist soil.
The leaves of this tree
are up to six inches long, with five lobes.
The lobes have large teeth.
The top side of the leaf is dull green, the bottom is
silvery-white.
Leaves turn yellow in the
Fall.
Silver Maple bark is gray
and becomes furrowed
and shaggy with age.
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Copyright, Mark Brand,
UConn Plant Database
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Merel R. Black, Wisconsin
State Herbarium
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The flowers of
this tree start as reddish buds,
then turn yellowish-green. They grow in
clusters.
Silver Maple blooms in late Winter and early
Spring.
Silver Maple
fruits are called samaras.
Samaras grow in pairs. They have a wing and are up
to two and a half inches long.
Samaras spread
mostly by wind.
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Virginia
Tech
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Some other plants that
often grow with Silver Maple include: Red Maple, American
Elm, American Sycamore, Black Willow, Sweetgum, Elderberry,
Greenbrier, Jewelweed, Poison Ivy, Joe-pye Weed, and
milkweed.
The seeds
of Silver Maple are eaten by Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite,
finches, squirrels, Eastern Chipmunk, other small
mammals,
and Wood Ducks.
White-tailed Deer and
Eastern Cottontail eat leaves and stems. Beaver eat the
bark. Squirrels also eat the buds.
Many birds
roost
in Silver Maple and sometimes different species roost
together. Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, European
Starlings, and Brown-headed Cowbirds often roost
together.
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Courtesy of the Illinois
State Museum
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Erv Evans, North Carolina
State University
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Silver Maple has very
soft wood. This means there are very often cavities
(holes) in the trunks where animals can live. Cavities in
Silver Maple are often homes to many birds and mammals,
including: Wood Duck, woodpeckers, Eastern Gray Squirrel,
Raccoon, Virginia Opossum, and bats.
The soft wood also allows
many species of fungi
to grow.
Leaves of Silver Maple
are eaten by several species of moths, including Cecropia
Moth, White-tussock Moth, and Gypsy Moth.
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