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Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator	FAC, FACW
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat
C:N Ratio	High
Coppice Potential	No
Fall Conspicuous	No
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Yellow
Flower Conspicuous	Yes
Foliage Color	Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Dense
Foliage Porosity Winter	Porous
Foliage Texture	Coarse
Fruit/Seed Color	Brown
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	No
Growth Form	Multiple Stem
Growth Rate	Rapid
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	35
Height, Mature (feet)	60
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	No
Lifespan	Short
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation
Resprout Ability	Yes
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	None
CaCO3 Tolerance	High
Cold Stratification Required	Yes
Drought Tolerance	High
Fertility Requirement	Medium
Fire Tolerance	Low
Frost Free Days, Minimum	100
Hedge Tolerance	None
Moisture Use	Medium
pH, Minimum	5.2
pH, Maximum	7
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	300
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	1200
Precipitation, Minimum	17
Precipitation, Maximum	60
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	40
Salinity Tolerance	Medium
Shade Tolerance	Tolerant
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	-43
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Early Spring
Commercial Availability	Routinely Available
Fruit/Seed Abundance	High
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Summer
Fruit/Seed Period End	Fall
Fruit/Seed Persistence	No
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	No
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	11360
Seed Spread Rate	Slow
Seedling Vigor	Low
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	Slow
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	No
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	Low
Lumber Product	Yes
Naval Store Product	No
Nursery Stock Product	Yes
Palatable Browse Animal	Low
Palatable Graze Animal	Low
Palatable Human	No
Post Product	No
Protein Potential	Low
Pulpwood Product	Yes
Veneer Product	No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Sapindales

Family  Aceraceae -- Maple family

Genus  Acer L. -- maple P

Species  Acer negundo L. -- boxelder P

 

Alternate common names

Ash-leaf maple, California boxelder, western boxelder, Manitoba maple

 

Uses

The wood of Boxelder is light, soft and weak, and of low commercial value.  It is used for pulp and rough lumber, usually mixed with other bottomland species, and has been used for boxes and crates, low-quality furniture, and interior finishing. 

 

Boxelder produces sap high in sugar content and can be used to produce syrup sometimes called "mountain molasses."  Native Americans used the cambium for food, boiled down the sap for syrup and candy, and made a tea from the inner bark to induce vomiting.  The new branches were used to make charcoal for ceremonial painting. 

 

The trees are useful for quick growth in naturalized riparian plantings, but they are short-lived and disease-prone.  The species was once planted in the U.S. as a street tree and ornamental cultivars have been developed (including forms with red fall color, variously variegated leaves, and without seeds).  It is not now commonly planted in the U.S., where its removal is sometimes more of a challenge.  The quick growth of this species, however, and its tolerance to urban conditions, allows it to contribute to shade and rapid re-greening in disturbed city sites, particularly in the Great Plains and the West, because of its drought and cold tolerance.  Boxelder can be used temporarily until replaced by slower growing but longer lasting trees.

 

Boxelder was once widely planted in shelterbelts in the Great Plains to reduce wind erosion and dust storms, but these shelterbelts have largely been removed.  Its fibrous root system and prolific seeding habit make it valuable for erosion control in some parts of the world.  The seeds are important winter food for birds and small mammals, deer browse young plants.

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values.

 

Description

General: Maple Family (Aceraceae): Boxelder is a native tree growing to 20 m  tall, with broad rounded crown, usually developing a shallow, fibrous root system; bark light gray-brown with shallow fissures, becoming deeply furrowed; twigs slender, shiny green, usually glabrous but sometimes hairy.  The leaves are opposite, 13-20 cm long, pinnately compound with 3(-5 or more) leaflets 5-10 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, long-pointed, coarsely toothed and often shallowly lobed.  The flowers are yellow-green, about 5 mm long, the male (staminate) flowers fascicled, the female (pistillate) flowers in drooping racemes; most trees are either male or female (the species is essentially dioecious), but bisexual flowers occur on a few trees (technically polygamo-dioecious).  Fruits are winged nutlets (samaras) in a pair, 2.5-4 cm long, clustered on long stalks.  The common name refers to the resemblance of leaves to those of ash (Fraxinus).  Boxelder, its other often used common name, refers to a resemblance to elder (Sambucus) and the use of the soft wood for box making. 

 

Boxelder is unusual among American maples in having compound leaves.  Apart from the opposite leaves, seedlings and young saplings of Boxelder bear a remarkable resemblance to poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) and are often mistaken for it by beginning naturalists. 

 

Variation within the species:

Substantial variation occurs over the range of the species; numerous forms and varieties have been described, but only six varieties currently recognized (in some treatments, for example, see McGregor 1986).  These are primarily distinguished by coloration of the branches, twig and fruit pubescence, and leaflet number.  

 

Var. arizonicum Sarg. – Arizona and New Mexico

Var. californicum (Torr. & Gray) Sarg. – California

Var. interius (Britt.) Sarg. – midwest US into the western states

Var. negundo ­– the eastern half of the US, with naturalized western outlyers

Var. texanum Pax – south-central US

Var. violaceum (Kirchn.) Jaeger – north-central US and most of Canada

 

Distribution

Boxelder is the most widely distributed of all American maples – its native range extends from the east coast of the U.S. to California, and from Alberta to southern Mexico and Guatemala.  The range is relatively continuous in the eastern U.S., but broken into small areas in the West and toward Central America.  It has become naturalized in areas far outside of its native range, including Europe.  It is not known from northern North America.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

 

Adaptation

Boxelder is natively a tree of river bottoms and disturbed sites on heavy, wet soils, often seasonally flooded (up to 30 days).  It is one of the most common bottomland trees throughout its range, usually following the pioneer species of cottonwood and willow in colonizing alluvial bottoms, then growing with silver and red maples, American elm, American sycamore, and sweetgum.  Populations in native habitats have decreased because of clearing of bottomland forest for agriculture, but they have greatly increased in urban areas.  Success of the species on disturbed urban sites owes to its prolific seed production and wide dispersal, ease of germination, tolerance of low oxygen conditions, and fast growth on clay or heavy fill.  Boxelder also is found as a pioneer species on disturbed upland sites where a seed source is nearby.   

 

Flowering: March-May (with or just before the leaves), fruiting: August-October.  The flowers are wind pollinated but also visited by bees. 

 

Establishment

Flowering in Boxelder is in early spring and large quantities of seed are produced each year, beginning on trees 8-11 years old.  The seeds ripen in autumn, fall continuously from autumn until spring, and are light, large-winged, and widely wind-dispersed.  They over-winter and germinate the following spring.  Best germination follows stratification for 60-90 days at 33° F. 

 

Boxelder seeds germinate in shade or full sun but seedlings begin to die off after 1-2 years unless openings are formed.  Successful seedbeds vary greatly.  Trees are fast growing, producing up to 1-inch diameter annual growth for the first 15-20 years.  Early growth is best in full sun but tolerant of partial shade.  Young trees commonly produce stump and root sprouts.  Average longevity is about 60 years; maximum longevity is rarely more than 100.

 

Management

Boxelder is tolerant to stressful sites and requires little special care, but it is relatively short-lived and the branches of older trees are susceptible to ice and wind damage.  Boxelder is highly sensitive to 2,4-D and also is susceptible to fire and mechanical damage because of its thin bark.

 

The boxelder bug is a common associate of boxelder

throughout most of its range.  The nymphs feed mainly on female (pistillate) trees in leaves, fruits, and soft seeds.  The trees are not greatly damaged but the insects sometimes invade human habitation in large numbers with the onset of cold weather.

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Boxelder is available at most nurseries within it distribution.

 

References

Koelling, M.R. & R.B. Heiligmann (eds.) 1996.  North American maple syrup producers manual.  Ohio State Univ. Extension Bull. 856.  AUG00.  <https://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/b856/index.html>

 

Li, H.-L. 1960.  The cultivated maples.  Morris Arbor. Bull. 11:41-47.

 

Maeglin, R. R. and L. F. Ohmann 1973.  Boxelder (Acer negundo): a review and commentary.  Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 100:357-363. 

 

McGregor, R.L. 1986.  Acer.  Pp. 569-570, IN: Great Plains Flora Association.  Flora of the Great Plains.  Univ. of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.

 

Overton, R.P. 1990.  Acer negundo L.  Boxelder.  Pp. 41-45, IN: R.M. Burns & B.H. Honkala (tech. coords.).  Silvics of North America.  Volume 2.  Hardwoods.  USDA, Forest Service Agric. Handbook 654, Washington, D.C. 

 

Prepared By

Guy Nesom, BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 

Species Coordinator

Lincoln Moore, USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Edited: 17jan01 jsp; 07feb03ahv; 24may06jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture