Acer negundo L.

Box Elder; Ash Leaf Maple

Tree

Perennial

Vascular

Box Elder is a small to medium sized native deciduous tree in the Soapberry family (Sapindaceae). It occurs throughout Alabama. Box Elder occurs in floodplain forests, along streams and rivers, and in wet disturbed woodlands. It is a fast-growing tree reaching heights of 30-80 feet. The stems of young shoots are smooth and green in color, often with a waxy coating. On older trunks the bark is gray to light brown in color and furrowed into broad ridges with scaly plates. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, and oddly pinnate compound with 3-7 leaflets. The leaflets are ovate to elliptic in outline, with toothed margins. The leaves may be pubescent or glabrous above and pubescent below. Box Elder is the only species of Maple in our area with pinnately compound leaves. Leaves turn yellow in the autumn before leaf drop. Flowers are produced in the early spring with or shortly after the leaves. The flowers are imperfect and produced in short racemes or fascicles on younger stems. Male and female flowers are produced on the same tree with male flowers in fascicles and female flowers in racemes. The flowers have 5 small sepals and lack petals. The flowers are greenish in color. The fruit is a samara. Box Elder is readily available from nurseries, and several cultivars have been selected. It thrives in most soils but care should be taken not to girdle the trunk with lawn equipment. It is a fast growing but short-lived tree, and the wood is brittle making it subject to damage from wind or ice.—A. Diamond

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Native FACW (NWPL)

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