Silver maple, (Acer saccharinum)

The silver maple owes its name to the color of its foliage, pale green on top and silvery gray below, which turns yellow, sometimes red, in the fall. The leaves have palmate veins and have five lobes with deep sinuses. The flowers appear before the leaves; males and females are found on the same tree, but on different inflorescences. The fruit, a disamare produced in abundance especially in certain years, ripens very early and is ready to germinate in early June. The bark divides into long, thin, narrow scales that exfoliate at the ends. The crown branches into several large branches and forms an irregular crown.

The silver maple grows in southern Quebec, along the Saint-Laurent and Richelieu rivers, as far as Florida. It inhabits the edges of rivers as well as low and humid lands. Its sap, less sweet than that of the sugar maple, produces a clear syrup. The fruits and buds are edible. It reaches a height of 25 m by 23 m wide when mature.

The pollen of this maple is allergenic. Rooting (root system) is superficial and very developed and made up of fine and numerous roots. Its transplantation is therefore easy. Its root system can prevent grass from growing in small spaces. This species is very widespread in the cities of eastern Canada as an ornamental tree.