Common names: box elder, ash-leaved maple

Scientific names: Acer negundo (Negundo interius, N. nuttallii)

Seasons of significant use: spring, summer

Characteristics: Native, perennial tree to 75.0 feet. Bark on young growth is smooth, thin, and green changing to pale gray or brown with shallow ridges and fissures with age; leaves deciduous, opposite, oddpinnately compound with 3-9 leaflets; leaflets ovate-elliptic or oval-obovate with irregularly serrate, lobed, or entire margins; plant is dioecious; fruit is a double samara with a single seed at the base of each wing, ripening September-October. Flowers February-May.

Plant community type: Primarily in wooded bottomlands.

Comments: A common secondary successional tree in disturbed wooded bottomland sites.

More Plant Photos and Descriptions:
Appendix C: Plants by Common Name
Appendix C: Plants by Scientific Name
Appendix C: Plants Listed by Family