ACERACEAE – MAPLE FAMILY

Plant: shrubs and trees Stem: sometimes with milky and/or sugary sap (stems or stems and leaves); buds opposite Root: Leaves: deciduous; opposite, mostly simple and toothed, with petioles, palamately lobed or more rarely pinnately compound; pinnately or palmately veined; no stipules Flowers: perfect or more often imperfect (monoecious or dioecious); usually regular (actinomorphic), small and in clusters, 4-6 but mostly 5 colored sepals; 4-6 but mostly 5 petals or absent (rare); 4-12 but mostly 8 stamens; ovary superior,1 pistil, 2 stigmas and styles, 2-3 fused carpels Fruit: schizocarp - doubled, rarely tripled samaras in Acer , 1-seeded, flat and long winged in Acer and rounded in Dipteronia Other: most are maples in N.A. + box elders; opposite and lobed leaves, usually sharp-toothed, some Viburnum shrubs have maple-like leaves and the box elders have opposite compound leaves, several cultivated varieties; Dicotyledons Group Genera: Acer (maple), (Dipteronia in China)

WARNING – family descriptions are only a layman’s guide and should not be used as definitive COMMON NATIVE Leaves opposite and lobed except for Ash-Leaf Maple (Box- Elder) with opposite compound leaves; samaras double-winged; MAPLE LEAVES flowers small in most species

Silver [Soft] Maple Sugar [Hard] Maple Acer saccharinum L. Acer saccharum Marsh. var. saccharum

Box-Elder [Ash-Leaved Maple] Acer negundo L. var. negundo

leaves with 5 deep lobes, leaves a paler green and 5-lobed with terminal lobe somewhat sharp teeth, edges firm (don’t droop), narrowed at base, sinuses U- sinuses of moderate depth and u- shaped, leaf whitened below shaped, mostly smooth beneath and sometimes hairy

Black Maple leaves 3-5 lobed, base Acer nigrum Michx. f. of terminal lobe wide, sinuses shallow and V- 3-5(7) lobes, sinuses deep shaped, whitened and and rounded, leaf edge often +/- hairy beneath rolled downward at margins, green beneath, little or no basal sinus, petioles thicken Red Maple Acer rubrum L. var. rubrum at base COMMON INTRODUCED MAPLE LEAVES

Norway Maple Acer platanoides L. (Introduced)

Leaves 3-5(-7) lobed, teeth sharp and long pointed, sinuses rounded, bright green above and below Amur maple Acer ginnala Maxim. (Introduced)

leaves with 3 pointed lobes, middle lobe much longer than lateral lobes, margins well Several other species are also toothed, bright green above and cultivated as ornamentals - Japanese paler below Maple (A. palmatum), Sycamore Maple (A. pseudoplatanus) and others. ACERACEAE – MAPLE FAMILY

Amur maple; Acer ginnala Maxim. (Introduced) Boxelder [Ash-Leaved Maple]; Acer negundo L. var. negundo Black Maple; Acer nigrum Michx. f. Striped Maple [Moose Wood]; Acer pensylvanicum L. Norway Maple; Acer platanoides L. (Introduced) Silver [Soft] Maple; Acer saccharinum L. Sugar [Hard] Maple; Acer saccharum Marsh. var. saccharum Red Maple; Acer rubrum L. var. rubrum Amur maple USDA Acer ginnala Maxim. (Introduced) Aceraceae (Maple Family) Oak Openings Metropark, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers dioecious, small, yellow to white, 4-5 petals, clustered at end of branches; leaves simple, opposite, toothed, 3-lobed with middle lobe considerably longer, lobes pointed, bright green above, somewhat paler green below; bark dark gray to brown, somewhat thin, shallow fissures and plates; twigs light brown to yellowish brown, slender; terminal buds rounded at base, pointed at tip; fruit a samara, up to 1 in; spring (widely cultivated, from Asia) [V Max Brown, 2009] Box-Elder [Ash-Leaved Maple] USDA Acer negundo L. var. negundo Aceraceae (Maple Family) University of Toledo Campus, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: shrubs and trees; flowers in clusters (dioecious); leaves opposite, compound (3-5(7)), usually a few coarse teeth; bark smooth but is furrowed with age; twigs smooth, bright green or purple and glaucous; winter buds white-hairy, 3-5 bundle scars; fruit of dangling clusters of samaras that often over winter on pistillate trees; spring [V Max Brown, 2005]

winter

Staminate flowers Black Maple USDA Acer nigrum Michx. f. Aceraceae (Maple Family) Maumee River Metroparks, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers small, monoecious; leaves with 3-5(7) lobes, sinuses rounded, leaf edge often rolled downward at margins, green beneath, little or no basal sinus, petioles thicken at base and partially enclose buds; bark somewhat dark, grooved when old; twigs a dull orange-brownish; terminal bud small, lower scales not hairy, dark in color; fruit a samara ripening late summer; spring [V Max Brown, 2005] Striped Maple [Moose Wood] USDA Acer pensylvanicum L. Aceraceae (Maple Family) Acadia National Park, Maine Notes: shrub to small tree; flowers small, bright yellow, in slender racemes from branch ends; leaves simple, opposite, thin, with three shallow lobes with sharp tips, fine teeth along leaf margins, up to 7+ cm wide and 15+ cm long, glabrous, pale green to yellowish-green, somewhat pubescent below; bark smooth, greenish-brown with long white (greenish) stripes ; twigs red-brown, glossy; terminal bud to 1.3 cm, paired scales, and stalked, bright red in winter; fruit a samara (paired), spring [V Max Brown, 2019] Norway Maple USDA Acer platanoides L. (Introduced) Aceraceae (Maple Family) Oak Openings Metropark, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers dioecious, large, yellow, 5 petals and sepals, in flat raceme, often flowering before leaves; leaves simple, large, palmately 3-5(-7) lobed, teeth sharp and long pointed, sinuses rounded, bright green above and below; bark dark gray, somewhat thin, shallow fissures and ridges; twigs light brown and shiny to somewhat greenish; terminal buds large, reddish, blunt or rounded tip with 2-3 scale pairs, side buds small; fruit a samara, almost 180˚ divergent; spring [V Max Brown, 2008] Silver [Soft] Maple USDA Acer saccharinum L. Aceraceae (Maple Family) Maumee River Metroparks, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers small, monoecious, usually red; leaves with 5 deep lobes, terminal lobe somewhat narrowed at base, sinuses U-shaped, leaf whitened below and sometimes hairy; bark grayish, smooth when young and somewhat flaky with age; twigs reddish with bad odor when broken; buds reddish and blunt; fruit a samara, often greenish to red, spring [V Max Brown, 2005] Sugar [Hard] Maple USDA male female Acer saccharum Marsh. var. saccharum Aceraceae (Maple Family) Oak Openings Metropark, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers small, monoecious or dioecious, yellow; leaves pale green and 5-lobed with sharp teeth, edges firm (don’t droop), sinuses of moderate depth and u-shaped (mostly less than 90°), mostly smooth beneath; bark smooth but grooved with loose plates on older bark; twigs red- brown, glossy; buds pointed, slender, side buds in pairs; fruit a samara, spring [V Max Brown, 2005] Red Maple USDA Acer rubrum L. var. rubrum Aceraceae (Maple Family) Oak Openings Metropark, Lucas County, Ohio Notes: tree; flowers monoecious or dioecious, mostly red (sometimes yellow); leaves 3-5 lobed, base of terminal lobe wide, sinuses shallow and V-shaped, whitened and mostly glabrous beneath; bark rough and flaky when old, smooth when young; twigs reddish; buds reddish, blunt, with several scales; fruit a samara; spring [V Max Brown, 2005]