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Acer negundo

Common name:	Box Elder	Family:	Aceraceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	11, 43, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	N. America - Nova Scotia to Florida, west to California and Manitoba.
Habitat:	Found in a variety of soil types, growing best in lowland sites along rivers, streams, ponds or seasonally flooded flats[229].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. negundo f. auratum[G] A. negundo f. aureovariegatum[G] A. negundo var. variegatum[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Ash-leaf Maple [B], Ashleaf Maple [L], Boxelder [L,DEN1,P,FEIS], Isfendan [E], Vederesdoorn [D],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	acer = sharp, pungent
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Sapindales. Maple family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Turkey
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

A decidious tree growing to 21m by 8m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 2. It is in flower from April to May, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Bees. The plant not is self-fertile. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Canopy.

Edible Uses

Inner bark Leaves Sap Seed Sweetener.

The sap contains a reasonable quantity of sugar and can be used as a refreshing drink or be concentrated into a syrup[11, 46, 61, 82, 159]. The syrup is used as a sweetener on many foods. The sugar content is inferior to A. saccharum according to one report[149] whilst another says that it is highly valued as a producer of sweet sap[183]. The sugar from the sap of this tree is said to be whiter than that from other maples[183]. To obtain the sap, bore a hole on the sunny side of the trunk into the sapwood about 1 metre above the ground at anytime from about January 1st until the leaves appear[85]. The flow is best on a warm day after a frost[213]. The best sap production comes from cold-winter areas with continental climates.
Inner bark - raw or cooked. It can be dried, ground into a powder and then used as a thickener in soups etc or be added to cereal flours when making bread, cakes etc[257]. The inner bark can also be boiled until the sugar crystallizes out of it[257].
Self-sown seedlings, gathered in early spring, are eaten fresh or dried for later use[213].
Seeds - cooked. The wings are removed and the seeds boiled then eaten hot[213]. The seed is up to 12mm long and is produced in small clusters[82].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Emetic.

A tea made from the inner bark is used as an emetic[222, 257].

Other Uses

Musical Preservative Shelterbelt Wood.

The leaves are packed around apples, rootcrops etc to help preserve them[18, 20].
A fairly wind-tolerant tree, it can be used in mixed plantings as a part of shelterbelt plantings[200].
Wood - soft, weak, light, close grained. It weighs 27lb per cubic foot[235]. Of little commercial value, it is used for boxes, cheap furniture, pulp, fuel etc[46, 61, 82, 149, 229]. Large trunk burls or knots have been used to make drums[257].

Cultivation details

Of easy cultivation, succeeding in most soils[202] but preferring a rich moist well-drained soil and a sunny position[11]. Grows well in heavy clay soils and in sandy soils[188]. Plants often become chlorotic on very alkaline soils[202].
Plants are hardy to about -18° c[202].
A fast growing but short-lived tree in the wild, living for 75 - 100 years[149, 229]. It is fairly wind-tolerant[200], but the branches have a tendency to break in strong winds[226]. This species is cultivated commercially in Illinois for its sap[183]. Another report says that this is one of the least productive species for sugar[226].
A very ornamental plant[1], there are several named varieties[200].
This tree is a bad companion plant that is said to inhibit the growth of neighbouring plants[18, 20].
This species is notably resistant to honey fungus[88, 200].
Very tolerant of pruning, it can regenerate from old wood if it is cut back hard[202].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame, it usually germinates in the following spring. Pre-soak stored seed for 24 hours and then stratify for 2 - 4 months at 1 - 8° c. It can be slow to germinate. The seed can be harvested 'green' (when it has fully developed but before it has dried and produced any germination inhibitors) and sown immediately. It should germinate in late winter. If the seed is harvested too soon it will produce very weak plants or no plants at all[80, 113]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on until they are 20cm or more tall before planting them out in their permanent positions.
Layering, which takes about 12 months, is successful with most species in this genus.
Cuttings of young shoots in June or July. The cuttings should have 2 - 3 pairs of leaves, plus one pair of buds at the base. Remove a very thin slice of bark at the base of the cutting, rooting is improved if a rooting hormone is used. The rooted cuttings must show new growth during the summer before being potted up otherwise they are unlikely to survive the winter. The cuttings of this species usually root easily.
Budding onto A. negundo in early summer usually works well. The bud should develop a small shoot in the summer otherwise it is unlikely to survive the winter.

Cultivars

'': There are many named forms for this species, but these have been developed for their ornamental value and not for their other uses. Unless you particularly require the special characteristics of any of these cultivars, we would generally recommend that you grow the natural species for its useful properties. We have, therefore, not listed the cultivars in this database[K].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[DEN] Data _ Photos (Good Identification info) from the Virginia Tech's Dendrology Deptarments' Tree Fact Sheets.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
[FEIS] Data (Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.

References for the family Aceraceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[18] Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants. Watkins 1979
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[80] McMillan-Browse. P. Hardy Woody Plants from Seed. Grower Books 1985 ISBN 0-901361-21-6
Does not deal with many species but it is very comprehensive on those that it does cover. Not for casual reading.

[82] Sargent. C. S. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications Inc. New York. 1965 ISBN 0-486-20278-X
Two volumes, a comprehensive listing of N. American trees though a bit out of date now. Good details on habitats, some details on plant uses. Not really for the casual reader.

[85] Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9
A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.

[88] RHS. The Garden. Volume 112. Royal Horticultural Society 1987
Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS. In particular, there are articles on plants that are resistant to honey fungus, oriental vegetables, Cimicifuga spp, Passiflora species and Cucurbits.

[113] Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press 1987 ISBN 0942375009
A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.

[149] Vines. R. A. Trees of Central Texas. University of Texas Press 1987 ISBN 0-292-78958-3
Fairly readable, it gives details of habitats and some of the uses of trees growing in Texas.

[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[202] Davis. B. Climbers and Wall Shrubs. Viking. 1990 ISBN 0-670-82929-3
Contains information on 2,000 species and cultivars, giving details of cultivation requirements. The text is terse but informative.

[213] Weiner. M. A. Earth Medicine, Earth Food. Ballantine Books 1980 ISBN 0-449-90589-6
A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[226] Lauriault. J. Identification Guide to the Trees of Canada Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Ontario. 1989 ISBN 0889025649
Very good on identification for non-experts, the book also has a lot of information on plant uses.

[229] Elias. T. The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1980 ISBN 0442238622
A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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