Boxelder
No. in Woodland Park: 140
No. in good health: 2
No. in fair health: 110
No. in poor health: 27
Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America. Box elder, boxelder maple, ash-leaved Maple, and maple ash are its most common names in the United States; in Britain and Ireland it is also known as ashleaf maple.
Other variant names, some of which are regional, include: In Canada it is commonly known as Manitoba Maple and occasionally as Elf Maple. Other names include Ash Maple, Ash-leaf Maple, Black Ash, California Boxelder, Cutleaf Maple, Cut-leaved Maple, Negundo Maple, Red River Maple, Stinking Ash, Sugar Ash, Three-leaved Maple, and Western Boxelder. In Russia it is called American Maple (Russian: американский клён) as well as Ash-leaf Maple (Russian: клён ясенелистный).
Acer negundo is a small, usually fast-growing and fairly short-lived tree that grows up to 10–25 metres (33–82 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of 30–50 centimetres (12–20 in), rarely up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) diameter. It often has several trunks and can form impenetrable thickets.
The shoots are green, often with a whitish to pink or violet waxy coating when young. Branches are smooth, somewhat brittle, and tend to retain a fresh green colour rather than forming a bark of dead, protective tissue. The bark on its trunks is pale gray or light brown, deeply cleft into broad ridges, and scaly.
Unlike most other maples (which usually have simple, palmately lobed leaves), Acer negundo has pinnately compound leaves that usually have three to seven leaflets. Simple leaves are also occasionally present; technically, these are single-leaflet compound leaves. Although some other maples (such as Acer griseum, Acer mandshuricum and the closely related A. cissifolium) have trifoliate leaves, only A. negundo regularly displays more than three leaflets.
