Habitat.—Thrives best in swamps or on stream borders, but is found also on hillsides and ridges.
Notes.—The Red Maple is especially noticeable early in spring on account of the red flowers and fruits, and in autumn when the leaves turn bright scarlet. The wood is used for cheap furniture, turnery, and paper pulp. It cannot be recommended highly for forestry purposes.
BOX ELDER
Acer negundo, L.
Form.—Height 40-60 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk usually short dividing into several large, spreading branches, forming an unequal, open crown.
Leaves.—Opposite, compound, the 3-5 leaflets 2-4 inches long, ovate, pointed, coarse-toothed above the middle, or sometimes slightly 3-lobed.
Flowers.—April; dioecious; small, yellow-green, the staminate on slender drooping pedicels, the pistillate in narrow drooping racemes.
Fruit.—Matures in late summer and persists into the winter; paired samaras hanging in racemose clusters.