Pronounced (approximate): AY-ser sak-ar-EYE-num
A native maple with deeply divided leaves and pale undersides. The photograph shows both its finely cut foliage and paired winged fruits.
Silver Maple: select the photograph for a closer look.
Family: Sapindaceae
Growth form: Deciduous tree
Habitat: Wet bottomlands and floodplains
Key feature: Deeply lobed leaves
Explore reported observations. Sightings are not a complete range map.
Look along streams and in moist bottomlands. Examine leaves and fruits together when distinguishing similar maples.
Red Maple generally has shallower leaf divisions. Freeman Maple, a hybrid of Red and Silver Maple, can show intermediate features.
Young bark is smooth and gray. Older trunks develop long strips whose ends may lift away from the trunk.
The deep sinuses give the foliage a lacy outline. Turn a leaf over to compare its pale underside with the green upper surface.
Paired winged fruits, called samaras, hang among the foliage in this photograph.
4 field photographs showing leaves, winged fruits and whole-tree views. Select a photograph to enlarge it and browse the slideshow.
Native across much of eastern North America.
Field photographs: Where’s Wildlife.
The Morton Arboretum: Silver Maple · UW–Madison Extension: Tree Identification
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