Silver maple
| Silver maple | ||||||||||||
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Silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ) |
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| Acer saccharinum | ||||||||||||
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The silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ) is a plant from the genus of maple ( Acer ). It is native to eastern North America and is used as an ornamental plant.
description
Vegetative characteristics
The silver maple grows as a deciduous tree and can reach heights of up to 36 meters. Its bark is smooth and gray in color. Most of the time, however, it is rather short and bushy, dotted with trees. It carries overhanging branches, and it can develop numerous water veins and saplings on the trunk .
The 7 to 14 centimeters wide leaves are - as is typical for maples - deeply lobed and double-sawtooth. The name comes from the silvery gray underside of the leaves. In autumn the leaves show colors from a wide spectrum from yellow to dark red.
Generative characteristics
The flowering time is from February to March before the leaves break out. The flowers are in dense clusters. The wing fruits typical of maple species have a 3.5 to 5 centimeter long stem and curved, widely spreading wings. These fruits fall off individually in June and germinate in the same year.
distribution
The silver maple is distributed over large parts of the lowlands in eastern North America. There it is characteristic of the elm-silver maple floodplain forests (Ulmo-Aceretalia saccharini).
use
In the temperate latitudes, the silver maple is used as an ornamental plant in gardens, parks and on streets.
In the country of origin, the sap that rises to the branches in spring is used for sugar production (maple syrup), similar to that for sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ). Beekeepers also appreciate the tree's flowering in Germany as an excellent pasture for bees in the winter season because of the very high nectar content of rating level 4. During flowering in February / March one often finds high honeybees densities in the tree tops.
In addition to that of red maple ( Acer rubrum ), silver maple wood is sold in North America as "American soft maple" and is used in furniture construction and veneer production. It is softer than that of the sugar maple ("American hard maple").
photos
Unisexual female inflorescence
Top of sheet
fruit
Individual evidence
- ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 646.
- ^ Günter Pritsch: Bees pasture. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2007; Pages 146-147 ISBN 978-3-440-10481-1
- ↑ American Hardwood Export Council: Handbook of American Hardwoods. n.d.; Pp. 14-15.
literature
- Roger Phillips: The great cosmos nature guide trees. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998; Page 75 ISBN 3-440-07503-6
