8. Fruit, × 1/2.
ACERACEAE
Silver Maple. Soft Maple
Acer saccharinum L. [Acer dasycarpum Ehrh.]
HABIT.—A beautiful tree, growing to a height of 60-80 feet, with a trunk diameter of 2-4 feet, usually separating near the ground into 3-4 upright stems which are destitute of branches for a considerable distance. Usually the long, slender branches bend downwards, but with their tips ascending in a graceful curve. Crown broad, especially in its upper portion.
LEAVES.—Opposite, simple, 3-6 inches long and nearly as broad; usually 5-lobed by narrow, acute sinuses which extend nearly to the midrib, the lobes often sublobed, sharply toothed; light green above, silvery white beneath, turning pale yellow in autumn; petioles long, slender, drooping.
FLOWERS.—March-April, before the leaves; polygamo-monoecious or dioecious; small, yellow-green, in crowded, sessile umbels; calyx 5-lobed (sometimes each lobe again divided); corolla 0; stamens 3-7; ovary hairy.
FRUIT.—May, germinating as soon as it reaches the ground; paired samaras, large, glabrous, curving inwards, one samara often aborted.
WINTER-BUDS.—Dark red, blunt; the terminal about 1/4 inch long, with bud-scales often apiculate at the apex; flower-buds clustered on side spurs.