Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

Distinguishing characters: The tips of the twigs curve upwards (Fig. 28), the bark is scaly, and the leaves are very deeply cleft and are silvery on the under side.

Leaf: Deeply cleft and silvery under side.

Form and size: A large tree with the main branches separating from the trunk a few feet from the ground. The terminal twigs are long, slender, and drooping.

Range: Eastern United States.

Soil and location: Moist places.

Enemies: The leopard moth, a wood-boring insect, and the cottony-maple scale, a sucking insect.

Value for planting: Grows too rapidly and is too short-lived to be durable.

Commercial value: Its wood is soft, weak, and little used.

Other characters: The bark is light gray, smooth at first and scaly later on. The scales are free at each end and attached in the center. The flowers appear before the leaves in the latter part of March or early April.

Other common names: The silver maple is sometimes known as soft maple or white maple.

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