Silver Maple                 A-ser sak-kar-I-num

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, 80-100 ft (24-30 m), decurrent, ascending branches, rounded form.  Bark smooth, gray when young, becoming shaggy with age.  Leaves opposite, simple, 8-15 cm across, deeply lobed (5 lobes), coarse, sharp, irregular teeth, bright green above and silvery white below and pubescent when young; petiole 8-12 cm long; fall color yellow, brown and rarely red.  Flowers short stalked, red to greenish, without petals; appear long before the leaves.  Fruit (samara), wings 2.5-5 cm long and about a right angle between them, mature in late spring-early summer.
• Sun, rapid growing, but "falls apart" when older.  Not a long-lived tree.  Easy to grow, but will lift sidewalks and clog drain pipes.  One of the best trees for poor soil, but is suffers severely from leaf chlorosis on alkaline soils with a pH greater than 7.5.  In its native habitat found along streams; it can survive weeks of inundation.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 3      Native range from Quebec east to Minnesota, south to Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida.
• Corvallis: SE corner Washington Ave. and 5th St.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: behind Avery Lodge on Madison Ave. west of 9th St.