Silver Maple and Silver Bells

On Bark #3

Figure 1. Silver maple geographic range. Map by Ben Lockwood

Species Facts

• Scientific Name: Acer saccharinum

• Growth Period: Spring to Summer

• Fire Tolerance: Low

• Growth Rate: Rapid

• Lifespan: 150 years

Silver Maple and Silver Bells

Figure 2. Silver maple bark. Photo by Ben Lockwood

It’s late afternoon and I’m looking at a silver maple tree (Figure 2). I can tell it’s a silver maple by the opposite branching pattern that all maples have, and the vertical cracks along the stem that create strips of bark which curl at the end, and the fact that it’s growing in a wet, marshy part of the Penn State Arboretum.