Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

Acer saccharinum, L. Silver Maple. Soft Maple. White Maple. River Maple.

Acer dasycarpum, Ehrh.

Habitat and Range.—Along streams, in rich intervale lands, and in moist, deep-soiled forests, but not in swamps.

Occasional throughout the New England states; most common and best developed upon the banks of rivers and lakes at low altitudes.

Habit.—A handsome tree, 50-60 feet in height; trunk 2-5 feet in diameter, separating a few feet from the ground into several large, slightly diverging branches. These, naked for some distance, repeatedly subdivide at wider angles, forming a very wide head, much broader near the top. The ultimate branches are long and slender, often forming on the lower limbs a pendulous fringe sometimes reaching to the ground. Distinguished in winter by its characteristic graceful outlines, and by its flower-buds conspicuously scattered along the tips of the branchlets; in summer by the silvery-white under-surface of its deeply cut leaves. It is among the first of the New England trees to blossom, preceding the red maple by one to three weeks.

Bark.—Bark of trunk smooth and gray in young trees, becoming with age rougher and darker, more or less ridged, separating into thin, loose scales; young shoots chestnut-colored in autumn, smooth, polished, profusely marked with light dots.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Flower-buds clustered near the ends of the branchlets, conspicuous in winter; scales imbricated, convex, polished, reddish, with ciliate margins; leaf-buds more slender, about ⅛ inch long, with similar scales, the inner lengthening, falling as the leaf expands. Leaves simple, opposite, 3-5 inches long, of varying width, light green above, silvery-white beneath, turning yellow in autumn; lobes 3, or more usually 5, deeply cut, sharp-toothed, sharp-pointed, more or less sublobed; sinuses deep, narrow, with concave sides; base sub-heart-shaped or truncate; stems long.

Inflorescence.—March to April. Much preceding the leaves; from short branchlets of the previous year, in simple, crowded umbels; flowers rarely perfect, the sterile and fertile sometimes on the same tree and sometimes on different trees, generally in separate clusters, yellowish-green or sometimes pinkish; calyx 5-notched, wholly included in bud-scales; petals none; sterile flowers long, stamens 3-7 much exserted, filaments slender, ovary abortive or none: fertile flowers broad, stamens about the length of calyx-tube, ovary woolly, with two styles scarcely united at the base.

Fruit.—Fruit ripens in June, earliest of the New England maples. Keys large, woolly when young, at length smooth, widely divergent, scythe-shaped or straight, yellowish-green, one key often aborted.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy in cultivation throughout New England. The grace of its branches, the beauty of its foliage, and its rapid growth make it a favorite ornamental tree. It attains its finest development when planted by the margin of pond or stream where its roots can reach water, but it grows well in any good soil. Easily transplanted, and more readily obtainable at a low price than any other tree in general use for street or ornamental purposes. The branches are easily broken by wind and ice, and the roots fill the ground for a long distance and exhaust its fertility.

Plate LXXII.—Acer saccharinum.