Silver maple (Acer saccharinum): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Acer saccharinum L., maple family
Other names	Soft maple, river maple, silverleaf maple, swamp maple, water maple and white maple (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and in the lower 48 states
Mature size, Silvics	26 to 37 m (90 to 120 ft) tall, with trunk diameters the handbook gives as 36 to 48 in
Lifespan, Silvics	May live 130 years or more
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	46 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range and sites

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, 1990) describes silver maple as a medium-sized tree with a short bole and a quickly branching crown, common in the eastern United States. It records a natural range from New Brunswick, central Maine and southern Quebec, west through southeastern Ontario and northern Michigan to southwestern Ontario, south in Minnesota to southeastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, and east through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to northwestern Florida and central Georgia. It says the species is absent at higher elevations in the Appalachians and that it has been introduced to the Black Sea coast of the Soviet Union, where small stands reproduce naturally.

The handbook places the tree on stream banks, flood plains and lake edges, growing best on better-drained, moist alluvial soils. It says the tree is heavily planted as an ornamental in urban areas of the country because of its early rapid growth and pleasing appearance, and that 58 cultivar names were listed in a National Arboretum checklist.

Growth and size

Silvics says growth is rapid in both pure and mixed stands, with some trees adding 13 mm to nearly 25 mm (0.5 to 1 in) of trunk diameter each year and one Vermont tree consistently adding 5 cm (2 in). In plantation trials, height averaged 3.8 m (12.5 ft) after five growing seasons where site preparation was intense and weed control complete, against 0.5 m (1.6 ft) with no site preparation. Plantation trees in southern Ontario averaged 25 m (81 ft) in height and 29.7 cm (11.7 in) in diameter at 43 years. The handbook says growth of young trees is seriously affected by competition from other vegetation.

Flowers and fruit

The handbook calls silver maple the first of the maples to bloom in North America, from as early as February into May, with greenish yellow flowers that open long before the leaves. Female and male clusters appear on the same tree or on different trees. It describes four types of trees by sex expression: all male, all female with rudimentary pistils, mostly male with a few female, and mostly male with a few female and scattered hermaphroditic flowers. Silvics says the winged seeds are the largest of any native maple and are produced in great abundance annually, providing food for many birds and small mammals. It also records the buds as a food for squirrels in late winter and spring and the species as a nesting tree for wood ducks and goldeneye in New Brunswick floodplains.

Roots

Silvics describes a shallow, fibrous root system, suited to the protected floodplain and bottom-land sites where the tree is found. It says the prolific root system is notorious for invading and clogging underground drainage and water lines that are not tightly constructed.

Wood

The Forest Products Laboratory's Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) places silver maple in the soft maple group with red maple, boxelder and bigleaf maple, and gives its other names as white, river, water and swamp maple. It says the sapwood of soft maple is somewhat lighter than the heartwood and that the wood of silver and red maple resembles hard maple but is not as heavy, hard and strong. It lists railroad crossties, boxes, pallets, crates, furniture, veneer, wooden ware and novelties as uses. Silvics adds that silver maple is cut and sold with red maple as soft maple lumber.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.44	5,800	590
At 12% moisture content	0.47	8,900	700

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the Forest Service's NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests, diseases and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says a number of diseases, insects and other agents attack silver maple, with effects from an unsightly appearance to weakening and death of the tree. It states there are no serious insect pests of the species. It names these agents by the names it used.

Foliage diseases. Gray-mold spot (Cristulariella depraedens), bull's eye spot (C. pyramidalis, which the handbook says can cause severe defoliation of nursery stock), anthracnose, tar spots, leaf blister and powdery mildew fungi.
Borers. The Columbian timber beetle, flatheaded appletree borer, maple callus borer and pinhole borer.
Leaf feeders and mites. The fruittree leafroller, cecropia moth, whitemarked tussock moth and two bladder gall mites. It also records a cottony maple scale outbreak.
Gypsy moth. The handbook says it is not a significant pest of silver maple because the young larvae cannot become established on the species.
Other damage. The handbook says the brittle wood makes the species highly susceptible to ice damage, and that street trees can be seriously affected by gas leaking from underground mains. It adds that the species reacts unfavourably to certain air pollutants.

The gypsy moth is the same insect as the spongy moth, and agencies list it as regulated. The guide on spongy moth rules by country gives each agency's wording, and reporting a pest in the United States gives the office that takes sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.