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Acer negundo, also known as the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America from Canada to Honduras. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, ash-like compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or invasive species, and has been naturalized throughout much of the world, including South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, much of Europe, and parts of Asia.
(accessed 04/10/2022)
The shoots are green, often with a whitish to pink or violet coating when young. Branches are smooth, somewhat brittle, and tend to retain a fresh green color 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 leaf, lobed leaf leaf), Acer negundo has compound leaf 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 Acer cissifolium) have leaf shape leaves, only A. negundo regularly displays more than three leaflets. The leaflets are about long and wide with slightly serrate margins. Leaves have a translucence light green color and turn yellow in the Autumn.
The yellow-green are small and appear in early spring, with staminate flowers in clusters on slender pedicels and pistillate flowers on drooping long.
The fruit is a schizocarp of two single-seeded, winged samaras on drooping racemes. Each seed is slender, long, with a incurved wing; they drop in autumn or they may persist through winter. Seeds are usually both prolific and fertility.
Unlike most other maples, A. negundo is fully dioecious and both a male and female tree are needed for reproduction to occur.Maeglin & Ohmann (1973), p. 359 The male and female flowers appear on separate plants, with males featuring clusters that generally have four flowers together, while females appear as a raceme.
Other common names are based upon this maple's similarity to Fraxinus, its preferred environment, its sugary sap, a description of its leaves, its binomial name, and so on. These names include "Manitoba maple", "ash-leaf maple", "cut-leaved maple", "three-leaf maple", "ash maple", "sugar maple", "negundo maple", and "river maple". Some of the common names given in this reference are questionable, "stinking ash" and "black ash" typically refer to Ptelea trifoliata and Fraxinus nigra, respectively. This reference is retained as an example of the confusion which arises when plants such as A. negundo are discussed by other than their .
Names vary regionally. Box elder, boxelder maple, ash-leaved maple, and maple ash are among its common names in the United States. In Canada it is commonly known as Manitoba maple and occasionally as elf maple. In the British Isles it is known as box elder or ashleaf maple. In Russia it is known as American maple () as well as ash-leaf maple ().
Because of its leaflets' superficial similarity to those of poison ivy, Acer negundo saplings are often mistaken for the allergenic plant. While both poison ivy and Acer negundo have compound leaves composed of three leaflets with ragged edges, Acer negundo exhibits an opposite branching pattern, as opposed to the alternating pattern of poison ivy. Like poison ivy, Acer negundo is also a noted Riparian zone species, and can often be found growing along riverbeds and in wet soils generally. For all these reasons, and despite their obvious differences, Acer negundo is sometimes referred to informally as the poison ivy tree.
Some authors further subdivide A. negundo subsp. negundo into a number of regional varieties but these intergrade and their maintenance as distinct taxa is disputed by many. Even the differences between recognized subspecies are probably a matter of gradient speciation.
Box Elder County, Utah is named for this tree, as is the town of Box Elder, South Dakota
Although native to North America, it is considered a weedy species in some areas, such as in parts of the Northeastern United States, and has increased greatly in these areas.Uva, R.H., J.C. Neal, and J.M. DiTomaso. 1997. Weeds of the Northeast. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. In 1928, Joseph Illick, chief forester for the state of Pennsylvania, wrote in Pennsylvania Trees that box elder was "rare and localized" in the state. After World War II, box elder's rapid growth made it a popular landscaping tree in suburban housing developments despite its poor form, vulnerability to storm damage, and tendency to attract large numbers of box elder bugs. Intentional cultivation has thus made the tree far more abundant than it once was.
It can quickly colonize both cultivated and uncultivated areas and the range is therefore expanding both in North America and elsewhere. In Europe where it was introduced in 1688 as a park tree it is able to spread quickly and is considered an invasive species in parts of Central Europe, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and Russia where it can form mass growth in lowlands, disturbed areas, and riparian biomes on calcareous soils. It has also become naturalized in eastern China, is listed as a pest invasive species in some of the cooler areas of the Australian continent, and is invasive in the Rio de la Plata area.
This species prefers bright sunlight. It often grows on flood plains and other disturbed areas with ample water supply, such as riparian habitats. Human influence has greatly favored this species; it grows around houses and in hedges, as well as on disturbed ground and vacant lots.
The boxelder bug ( Boisea trivittata) lays its on all maples, but prefers this species, clustering the eggs in bark crevices. The rosy maple moth ( Dryocampa rubicunda) also lays its eggs on the leaves of maple trees, including Acer negundo. The larvae feed on the leaves, and in very dense populations can cause defoliation.
Small are formed on the leaves by a bladder mite, Aceria negundi. A gall midge, Contarinia negundinis joins and enlarges the galls of Aceria negundi. The midge sometimes creates a separate, tubular gall on the midrib or veins of the undersides of the leaves.
The cottony maple leaf scale, Pulvinaria acericola, occurs on the foliage of Acer negundo. A leaf spot fungus, Septoria negundinis creates black-ringed lesions on the leaves.
Acer negundo pollen, which is released in winter or spring (varying with latitude and elevation) is a severe allergen.
The wood has been used for a variety of purposes by Native Americans, such as by the Navajo people to make tubes for bellows,Elmore, Francis H. (1944). Ethnobotany of the Navajo. Santa Fe, NM. School of American Research (p. 62) by the Cheyenne to make bowls,Hart, Jeffrey A. (1981). "The Ethnobotany of the Northern Cheyenne Indians of Montana." Journal of Ethnopharmacology 4:1–55 (p. 46). and by the native peoples of Montana who use the large trunk burls or knots to make bowls, dishes, drums, and pipe stems. The Tewa use the twigs as pipe stemsRobbins, W.W., J.P. Harrington and B. Freire-Marreco (1916). "Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians." SI-BAE Bulletin #55 (p. 38). and the Keres people make the twigs into prayer sticks.Swank, George R. (1932). The Ethnobotany of the Acoma and Laguna Indians. University of New Mexico, M.A. Thesis (p. 24).
The Dakota people and the Omaha peopleGilmore, Melvin R. (1913). "A Study in the Ethnobotany of the Omaha Indians." Nebraska State Historical Society Collections 17:314–57. (p. 336). make the wood into charcoal, which is used in ceremonial painting and tattooing. The Kiowa burn the wood in the altar fire during the peyote ceremony.Vestal, Paul A. and Richard Evans Schultes (1939). The Economic Botany of the Kiowa Indians. Cambridge MA. Botanical Museum of Harvard University (p. 40)
Acer negundo was identified as the material used in the oldest extant wood flutes from the Americas. The flutes, excavated by Earl H. Morris in 1931 in Northeastern Arizona, have been dated to 620–670 CE.
Ecology
Several and some feed on the seeds. The evening grosbeak uses them extensively.
Cultivation
Although its weak wood, irregular form, and prolific seeding might make it seem like a poor choice for a landscape tree, A. negundo is one of the most common maples in cultivation. Long-term success has been noted as far north as Yellowknife. Many have been developed, such as:
Toxicity
A protoxin present in the seeds of Acer negundo, hypoglycin A, has been identified as a major risk factor for, and possibly the cause of, a disease in horses, seasonal pasture myopathy (SPM). SPM is an equine neurological disease which occurs seasonally in certain areas of North America and Europe, with symptoms including stiffness, difficulty walking or standing, dark urine and eventually breathing rapidly and becoming recumbent. Ingestion of sufficient quantities of box elder seeds or other parts of the plant results in breakdown of respiratory, postural, and cardiac muscles. The cause of SPM was unknown for centuries despite the disease being well known among affected areas and was only positively determined in the 21st century. It is analogous to Jamaican vomiting sickness in humans, also caused by hypoglycin A.
Uses
Wood
Although its light, close-grained, soft wood is considered undesirable for most commercial uses, this tree has been considered as a source of wood fiber, for use in fiberboard.Maeglin & Ohmann (1973), pp. 360-361 There is also some commercial use of the tree for various decorative applications, such as turned items (bowls, stem-ware, pens). Such purposes generally use burl or injured wood, as the injured wood develops a red stain.Maeglin & Ohmann (1973), p. 360
Medicinal use
Acer negundo has been used by Native Americans for several medicinal purposes. The Cheyenne burn the wood as incense for making spiritual medicines,Hart, Jeff (1992). Montana Native Plants and Early Peoples. Helena. Montana Historical Society Press (p. 4) and during Sun Dance ceremonies. The Meskwaki use a decoction of the inner bark as an emetic,Smith, Huron H. (1928). "Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki Indians." Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4:175–326 (p. 200)' and the Ojibwa use an infusion of the inner bark for the same purpose.Smith, Huron H. (1932). "Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians." Bulletin of the Public Museum of Milwaukee 4:327–525 (p. 353)
As food
The sap has been used to make syrup by Native Americans, including the Dakota people,Gilmore, Melvin R. (1913). "Some Native Nebraska Plants With Their Uses by the Dakota." Nebraska State Historical Society Collections 17:358–70 (p. 366) Omaha,Gilmore, Melvin R. (1913). "A Study in the Ethnobotany of the Omaha Indians." Nebraska State Historical Society Collections 17:314–57. (p. 329).Gilmore, Melvin R. (1919). "Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region." SI-BAE Annual Report #33 (p. 101) Pawnee people, Ponca, Ho-Chunk, Cree,Johnston, Alex (1987). Plants and the Blackfoot. Lethbridge, Alberta. Lethbridge Historical Society (p. 44). Sioux,Blankinship, J. W. (1905). "Native Economic Plants of Montana." Bozeman. Montana Agricultural College Experimental Station, Bulletin 56 (p. 16) and the indigenous people of Montana. The Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache dry scrapings of the inner bark and keep it as winter food, and they also boil the inner bark until sugar crystallizes out of it.Castetter, Edward F. and M. E. Opler (1936). "Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest III. The Ethnobiology of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache." University of New Mexico Bulletin 4(5):1–63 (p. 44). The Cheyenne mix the boiled sap with shavings from the inner sides of animal hides and eat them as candy.Hart, Jeffrey A. (1981). "The Ethnobotany of the Northern Cheyenne Indians of Montana." Journal of Ethnopharmacology 4:1–55 (p. 13). The Ojibwa mix the sap with that of the sugar maple and drink it as a beverage.Smith, Huron H. (1932). "Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians." Bulletin of the Public Museum of Milwaukee 4:327–525 (p. 394).
Citations
General and cited references
External links
Categories: Negundo, Dioecious Plants, Garden Plants Of North America, Least Concern Flora Of The United States, Ornamental Trees, Plants Described In 1753, Plants Used In Native American Cuisine, Plants Used In Traditional Native American Medicine, Botanical Taxa Named By Carl Linnaeus, Trees Of Central America, Trees Of Mediterranean Climate, Trees Of Northern America, Trees Of Humid Continental Climate, Trees Of Temperate Climates
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