BOX ELDER
Acer negundo, L.
Form.—Height 40-60 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk usually short dividing into several large, spreading branches, forming an unequal, open crown.
Leaves.—Opposite, compound, the 3-5 leaflets 2-4 inches long, ovate, pointed, coarse-toothed above the middle, or sometimes slightly 3-lobed.
Flowers.—April; dioecious; small, yellow-green, the staminate on slender drooping pedicels, the pistillate in narrow drooping racemes.
Fruit.—Matures in late summer and persists into the winter; paired samaras hanging in racemose clusters.
Bark.—Somewhat roughened by narrow, close ridges, gray-brown; twigs greenish.
Wood.—Light, soft, close-grained, not strong, creamy-white with scarcely lighter colored sapwood.
Range.—Ontario and Vermont to Florida, Texas and Mexico.
Distribution in West Virginia.—Common locally along streams at lower elevations. Plentiful in some sections of the following counties: Boone, Braxton, Doddridge, Fayette, Jefferson, Lewis, Monongalia, and Tyler.
Habitat.—Deep moist soils of stream banks and swamp borders.
Notes.—Box Elder grows naturally along streams but thrives when planted in drier soils. It is not important as a timber tree, nor very desirable for ornamental uses. This tree is sometimes called Ash-leaved Maple.