Ashleaf Maple (Boxelder)

Acer negundo

• Family: Aceraceae
  
  
• Small to medium-sized tree
  
  
• Short trunk with broad, rounded crown
  
  
• Reaches height between 9-18m (30-60’)

photo by Jason Biggerstaff

Leaves

• Opposite and pinnately compound; 15cm (6”) in length
  
  
• 3-5 (rarely 7) ovate or elliptical, paired, short-stalked leaflets, each 5-10cm (2-4”) in length with few coarse teeth (sometimes none or lobed)
  
  
• End leaflets slightly lobed and frequently 3-pointed; narrow leaf scars meet in raised points, 3 or 5 bundle scars
  
  
• Light green, mostly hairless from above; paler with varying hairiness from below
  
  

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Twigs & Fruiting Structures

• Slender green (sometimes white or purple), mostly hairless twigs with white, hairy buds (click here for image of buds)
  
  
• 5mm (3/16”) flowers with small 5-lobed, yellow-green calyx; male and female on different trees
  
  
• Flat, narrow, paired, slightly forking, pale yellow, 1-seeded keys 2½-4cm (1-1½”) in length remain attached in winter (click here for image)
  
  

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