SAPINDACEAE - - Soapberry Family

Acer saccharinum Linnaeus — Silver Maple

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) is a medium-sized tree, mostly 60' to 80' in height and 2' to 3' in diameter, rarely 120' by 5'; the bole commonly dividing near the ground into several stout, erect, divergent branches, forming a wide-spreading rounded crown; roots, shallow and frequently very near the surface of the soil. Silver maple has been very popular as an ornamental shade tree, but considering the shallow roots, brittle, easily broken branches and natural habitat (moist alluvial soils near rivers and creeks), I would not recommend it for that purpose, especially a hot, dry lawn.

Separating Characteristics

Acer saccharinum can be separated from the four "sugar maple" species (A. saccharum, A. floridanum, A. leucoderme, A. nigrum) by having leaves with teeth (rather than simply lobed), from A. negundo by having simple, not compound leaves, from A. pensylvanicum, A. spicatum by leaf shape, bark and habitat (both of these are high elevation species in Ga.), and from both varieties of A. rubrum by, usually longer and narrower leaf lobes with more teeth, lighter more scaly bark, twigs usually darker, brown to dark red and fetid, flowers without petals, greenish yellow, nearly sessile.

Habitat

Silver maple, a common swamp or stream-bank tree, is largely restricted to rich, moist bottomland sites.

Native Range

Silver maple is found from southern Canada and Maine, south to Georgia and panhandle of Florida, west to Mississippi and scattered locations in Louisiana and into eastern Oklahoma, northward to Minnesota.

The native range of Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.