Silver Maple

Giant Silver Maple Graces Landscape

Silver Maple

Off Route 105 in the Sheffield area there is a tree I admire.  As we drive by it doesn't at first stand out among the hundreds of maples, elms and ashes growing along the St. John River.  It blends in well.  But when we take notice, wow, this is a BIG tree.

The Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) usually grows on rich bottomlands along the edges of streams, rivers, swamps, and lake.  It is fast growing reaching maturity in 125 years.  It reaches 60 to 80 ft high (20-25m) and 2 to 3 ft (up to 1 m) dbh (diameter at breast height).  It usually has a short bole which divides into several upright branches.  It recovers well from periods of inundation making it an excellent floodplain species.  Notice in the photo above the huge bole and the separation into many branches above.  This tree is growing in a floodplain.

Silver Maple

The photo above shows the giant size of this tree.  It is indeed much larger than the 3 ft dbh.  It is much larger than my full length arm span.  Notice the shaggy bark.  It is a gray colour and has loose vertical bands.  The bark is made up of loose scaly plates that are fastened in the middle and loose on the ends, hence the shagginess.

The Silver Maple leaves are 10 to 15 cm (4"-6") in diameter, deeply palmated (shaped like a hand),  5-lobed usually, pale green above and silvery below.  In the fall they turn yellow.  The Silver Maple is the first to flower, usually in late winter or early spring, before any leaves appears.  The flowers are yellowish and appear before the red maple flowers.

Silver Maple Leaf [Trees in Canada, Farrar]

Shown above is the typical Silver Maple leaf.  The notches between the lobes are deep.  The lobes are serrated.  The leaf is widest at the base.

The Silver Maple is sometimes used as an ornamental tree.  It is not well suited for this purpose, however, because it is brittle and breaks easily in the wind and it sheds its seeds making it messy in your yard.  It also supports a heavy root system which sometimes clogs drain and sewer pipes.

The species has historical significance in our area.  It has made firewood for our inhabitants for 400 years.  I suspect it is the reason Sugar Island got its name (my opinion).  Sugar Island gets flooded every year and I doubt if Sugar Maple ever grew well there.  It is likely that the early inhabitants living on Sugar and Shore Islands made maple sugar from the Silver Maple.

The trunks of Silver Maples often become hollow.  These cavities provide nesting and den sites for mammals and birds.  We often see evidence of their use by squirrels, raccoons, wood ducks, and great horned owls.  They are an integral part of the environment.

I noticed something special about the tree photographed above.  It is a 'corner tree'.  There was a property stake beside it, making it a venerable old marker of a property line.  May you long live, Mr. Silver Maple!