Soft Maple

The Acer Saccharinum is commonly known as Silver Maple, as well as Soft Maple

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Growing Regions

The range of silver maple extends from New Brunswick to west to northern Michigan, northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota; south to southeastern South Dakota and eastern Oklahoma; east to northern Georgia; and north through western South Carolina and western North Carolina to Maine.  It is found in northwestern Florida on the Apalachicola and Choctawhatchee rivers but is not otherwise found on the Gulf or Atlantic Coastal Plain [37].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name for silver maple is Acer saccharinum L. (Aceraceae) [10,34,37]. There are no currently accepted infrataxa. Hybrids (A. xfremanii Murr.) with red maple (A. rubrum) have been reported [37].

Silver maple is a dominant canopy species only in streamside communities
and lake fringes, and occasionally in swamps, gullies, and small
depressions of slow drainage [16].  The elm-ash-cottonwood type is
defined as bottomland forest in which elms (Ulmus spp.), green ash
(Fraxinus pennsylvanica), eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), silver
maple, or red maple comprise a plurality of the stocking [70].

Silver maple and/or American elm (Ulmus americana) are usually the
dominant tree species in southern Wisconsin floodplain forests [66].  In
Illinois, silver maple was the leading dominant on floodplain sites that
were flooded at least 25 percent of the time.  With increased elevation
other species increased, although silver maple continued to be dominant
on sites that were flooded 3 to 5 percent of the time.  Silver maple,
sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), and green ash communities occurred at
the lowest elevations; silver maple, sycamore, green ash, American elm,
hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), and other species were found at higher
elevations [5].  In central New York, silver maple-green ash swamps are
relatively low in species diversity and density [27].  Silver maple
dominance decreases with decreasing latitude; it is relatively rare in
many southern floodplain forests [12].

In the Central Forest Region (as defined by the Society of American
Foresters [73]), understory associates of silver maple include willows
(Salix spp.), redberry elder (Sambucus pubens), red-osier dogwood
(Cornus sericea), and greenbriers (Smilax spp.).  In the Northern Forest
Region associates include swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), sycamore,
pin oak (Quercus palustrus), black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), and eastern
cottonwood.  In New England and eastern Canada, associates include sweet
birch (Betula lenta), paper birch (B.  papyrifera), and gray birch (B.
populifolia).  In New York, associates include white ash (Fraxinus
americana), slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), rock elm (U. thomassii), yellow
birch (B. allegheniensis), black tupelo, sycamore, eastern hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis), bur oak (Q. macrocarpa), and swamp white oak [16].
In the elm-ash-cottonwood type, other associates include black willow
(Salix niger), boxelder (Acer negundo), and sycamore [70].

Silver maple is listed as a dominant or codominant species in the
following publications:

1) Composition and environment of floodplain forests of northern
       Missouri [12]
2) Wetland forests of Tompkins County, New York [26]
3) Community analysis of the forest vegetation in the lower Platte
       River Valley, eastern Nebraska [53]
4) A classification of mature forests on Long Island, New York [75]
5) Ecological communities of New York State [76]
6) The natural forests of Maryland: an explanation of the vegetation map
       of Maryland [77]

• More Soft Maple Information

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