The silver maple, Acer saccharinum, is named for a feature seen only when there is a breeze- the silvery undersides of its leaves. Only a slight breeze gives its leaves an interesting shimmer, and a bit more breeze is enough to reveal the leaves’ silvery undersides. Of added interest is the leaf shape, which is featured on the Canadian flag and on Canadian silver maple leaf coins. Autumn leaves are attractive whether pale or brilliant, and though usually yellow they may be orange or red. It does not take a search of hidden parts to find attractive features on the silver maple.
Silver maple has also been known as silverleaf maple, soft maple, white maple, water maple, 
swamp maple, and creek maple. It is native to eastern and central North America. Though the silver maple is said to be one of the most common trees in the United States, I have found few in the west Atlanta, Georgia area that were not part of or close by a landscape containing the trees. Silver maples in the forest are most likely to be found along creeks and in wet areas with well-drained soil. They can tolerate flooding for long periods of time, but they also have moderate drought tolerance. These trees require more sun than other maples, and grow best in full sun to partial shade conditions. As the silver maple has the ability to adapt to a wide range of growing conditions, has attractive features, and is one of the fastest growing species of maple trees, it has become a popular ornamental for use in landscapes and along streets.
Landscaping with silver maples involves dealing with undesirable characteristics. The tree’s rapid growth produces softer and more brittle wood than would a slower growing tree, so proper pruning is needed to help prevent limbs from breaking in high winds, ice and snow. In addition, as the tree’s roots are most suited to a moist environment, they remain shallow and fibrous. Extensive roots invade septic fields, crack sidewalks and foundations, cause upheaval of walkways and driveways, and protrude to be struck by mower blades. If proper planning and caution is observed, the effects caused by these undesirable characteristics can be minimized.
The canopy of a young tree is slender and irregular, and when mature it is roughly oval and ragged. The trunk is short before forming numerous ascending branches with dense foliage. Trunk diameter may be as large as 5 feet, but this would be rare locally. Bark is thin, smooth and pale gray, becoming rougher in texture with age. Trees grow as much as 24 inches in a season, and though they usually grow 50 to 70 feet tall, specimens can be found over 100 feet tall. A silver maple may live over 130 years.
Leaves on silver maples are palmate, simple and opposite. They have 5 deeply incised lobes, and leaf margins are irregularly toothed. Lobes are incised more than that of the sugar maple, which is similar. Leaf color is green and shiny on the top surface and silvery green on the underside. The underside is sometimes sparsely tomatose with fine hairs. Leaf twigs or petioles are long and slender, permitting the 
leaves to shimmer with only a slight breeze. Branches are numerous and ascending. The tree’s dense broad-leaf foliage makes it a good shade tree.
Flowers on silver maples are inconspicuous, and appear in greenish yellow clusters. They bloom in early spring, from late February into May, before the leaves appear. While sugar and black maples bloom in autumn, silver and red maples bloom in spring limiting their season of sap production for making maple syrup. Male and female flowers occur most often on different trees, but are also often found on the same tree. Fruit are winged seeds that occur in attached pairs, called samaras, and they appear from April to June. They are dispersed by air and water in early summer, and may be observed twirling like a helicopter blade as they fall. The silver maple and the red maple are the only maple species to produce samaras in spring, and those of the silver maple are larger than those of other maples.
The silver maple is a useful tree. The wood is lighter, softer and weaker than harder maples, but it has uses in furniture, musical instruments, turned objects, flooring, veneer, pulpwood, crates, and so forth. The tree can be tapped for making maple syrup, but such use is limited primarily because the season for doing so is shorter than that of other maples. The tree is attractive, and is useful as a shade tree and in landscapes. As a rapidly growing tree, it has possibilities for use as biomass for energy. As a tree that adapts to a wide range of growing conditions, it has use in rehabilitation of degraded and surface-mined lands. Swelling buds of silver maples are an important food source for squirrels when stored food sources are exhausted. Beavers are known to prefer this tree over most others as a food source. Despite its undesirable characteristics, the silver maple has proven to be a valuable tree.
The silver maple is a tree with interesting characteristics and many uses. Remember it by its leaves, which are the classic maple leaf shape featured on Canada’s silver maple leaf coins and flag.
Many people collect coins, and Canada’s silver maple leaf coin is one ounce of .9999 fine silver. This coin and others are available for purchase here through my participation in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Any purchase through this link helps maintain this website and is appreciated.
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