7. Fruit, × 1.
ACERACEAE
Boxelder. Ash-leaved Maple
Acer negundo L. [Negundo aceroides Muench.]
HABIT.—A sturdy little tree 30-50 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet. Trunk often divides near the ground into several stout, wide-spreading branches, forming a broad, unsymmetrical, open crown.
LEAVES.—Opposite, pinnately compound. Leaflets 3-5 in number, 2-4 inches long, 1-1/2-2-1/2 inches broad; ovate or oval; nearly entire, irregularly and remotely coarse-toothed above the middle, or sometimes 3-lobed (often giving the leaflet a jagged outline); apex acute, base variable; glabrous or somewhat pubescent at maturity, with prominent veins. Petioles slender, 2-3 inches long, the enlarged base leaving prominent crescent-shaped scars partly surrounding the winter-buds.
FLOWERS.—April, before or with the leaves; dioecious; small, yellow-green; the staminate in clusters on long, thread-like, hairy pedicels; the pistillate in narrow, drooping racemes; calyx hairy, 5-lobed; corolla 0; stamens 4-6; ovary pubescent.
FRUIT.—Early summer, but hanging until late autumn or early spring; narrow, flat, winged samaras, in pairs, clustered in drooping, racemose clusters.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud 1/8-1/4 inch long, acute, inclosed in two dull red scales, often hoary or minutely pubescent; lateral buds obtuse, appressed.