Acer pensylvanicum
Acer pensylvanicum | |
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Striped maple leaves, Cranberry Wilderness, West Virginia | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Sapindaceae |
Genus: | Acer |
Section: | Acer sect. Macrantha |
Species: | A. pensylvanicum
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Binomial name | |
Acer pensylvanicum L. 1753
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Natural range | |
Synonyms[2] | |
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Acer pensylvanicum, known as the striped maple, moosewood, moose maple or goosefoot maple, is a small North American species of maple. The striped maple is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning that it can change its sex throughout its lifetime.
Description[]
The striped maple is a small deciduous tree growing to 5–10 meters (16–33 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter.[3] The shape of the tree is broadly columnar, with a short, forked trunk that divides into arching branches which create an uneven, flat-topped crown.
The young bark is striped with green and white, and when a little older, brown.[3]
The leaves are broad and soft, 8–15 cm (3–6 in) long and 6–12 cm (2.5–4.5 in) broad, with three shallow forward-pointing lobes.[3]
The fruit is a samara; the seeds are about 27 mm (1.1 in) long and 11 mm (0.43 in) broad, with a wing angle of 145° and a conspicuously veined pedicel.[3][4][5]
The bloom period for Acer pensylvanicum is around late spring.[6]
The spelling pensylvanicum is the one originally used by Linnaeus.
Distribution[]
The natural range of the striped maple extends from Nova Scotia and the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec, west to southern Ontario, Michigan, and Saskatchewan; south to northeastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and along the Appalachian Mountains as far south as northern Georgia.[7][8]
Ecology[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/2006-07-15%2C_moosewood_close-up.jpg/220px-2006-07-15%2C_moosewood_close-up.jpg)
Moosewood is an understory tree of cool, moist forests, often preferring slopes. It is among the most shade-tolerant of deciduous trees, capable of germinating and persisting for years as a small understory shrub, then growing rapidly to its full height when a gap opens up. However, it does not grow high enough to become a canopy tree, and once the gap above it closes through succession, it responds by flowering and fruiting profusely, and to some degree spreading by vegetative reproduction.[9][10]
Mammals such as moose, deer, beavers, and rabbits eat the bark, particularly during the winter.[11]
References[]
- ^ Barstow, M.; Crowley, D. (2017). "Acer pensylvanicum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T193849A2285894. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T193849A2285894.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ The Plant List, Acer pensylvanicum L.
- ^ a b c d Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
- ^ Carolina Nature
- ^ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas
- ^ "Conservation Plant Characteristics for ScientificName (CommonName) | USDA PLANTS". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
- ^ "Striped Maple". Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
- ^ Hibbs, D. E; B. C. Fischer (1979). "Sexual and Vegetative Reproduction of Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum L.)". Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 106 (3): 222–227. doi:10.2307/2484558. JSTOR 2484558.
- ^ Hibbs, D. E.; Wilson, B. F.; Fischer, B. C. (1980). "Habitat Requirements and Growth of Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum L.)". Ecology. 61 (3): 490–496. doi:10.2307/1937413. JSTOR 1937413.
- ^ Little, Elbert L. (1980). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region. New York: Knopf. p. 575. ISBN 0-394-50760-6.
External links[]
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Maple
- Hardwood forest plants
- Trees of the Northeastern United States
- Flora of the Appalachian Mountains
- Flora of Eastern Canada
- Plants described in 1753
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus