SAPINDACEAE - - Soapberry Family

Acer pensylvanicum Linnaeus — Striped Maple or Moosewood

Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum) is frequently a shrub, or a small tree becoming 30 to 40 feet in height, with a short trunk up to 10 inches in diameter; branches, small, upright, forming an oblong, rounded head. The National Champion has a circumference of 35 inches, a height of 70 feet, and a spread of 23 feet. Striped maple is of value as an ornamental, especially in the northern and northeastern United States and in Europe. The species name pensylvanicum means Pennsylvanian, referring to the state where it was originally collected and described.

Separating Characteristics

The leaves are distinctive, large, 5-9 inches long and wide, with 3 (sometimes 5) shallowly lobed leaves with long-tapering tips. Young bark is bright green (becoming reddish brown) with very distinctive whitish to gray stripes. The flowers (largest of the maples in our flora) are 1/2 inch wide, canary-yellow, and are arranged in drooping, long-stalked racemes, about 5 inches long.

Habitat

Striped maple is found in moist cool, hardwood forests up to 5,500 feet elevation in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and is an understory tree, usually shaded by larger trees of many other species.

Native Range

Striped maple is found from Quebec to northern Wisconsin, southward through the Atlantic states and the Appalachians to northern Georgia. In Georgia, it is only found in the mountains of extreme northeast Georgia, Rabun, Towns, Union and Fannin counties.

The native range of Acer pensylvanicum (Striped 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 pensylvanicum (Striped 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/.