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Boxelder is dioecious — trees either produce all male (staminate) or all female (pistillate) flowers. Neither male or female flowers have petals; both consist of drooping, hairy filaments that bear either 5 reddish-brown anthers (male) or a greenish-white, deeply-forked style (female). The flowers are wind pollinated. Boxelder wood is soft and brittle so broken branches are common, but the trees can live to be a century old.

Acer

Acer negundo

boxelder [Blooms: Apr-May]

Norway maple produces separate male and female flowers, either on different trees or on the same tree. Flowers are produced in umbels of 10-30 flowers 2-3" across, either as the leaves are just unfolding or slightly before. Individual flowers are about 6-8 mm across; each has five 1/8" long sepals, five ~1/2" long petals, both of which are greenish yellow, and a brownish central disc. Male (pistillate) flowers have eight fertile stamens; female flowers have a green pistil with a pair of basal wings and a pair of styles, all surrounded by eight sterile stamens. Pollination occurs primarily by insects (bees). Fertilized female flowers produce pairs of winged fruits (samaras) joined at the seeds with an angle between the samaras of slightly less than 180°. The mature fruits are 1.5-2.5" long and turn brown in the autumn.

Acer

Acer platanoides

Norway maple [Blooms: Apr]

Sugar maple trees may produce male and female flowers on separate trees or may produce male and female flowers on the same tree, even on the same branch. Male flowers are produced in drooping umbels, with 3-4" long, hairy pedicels. Individual male flowers are about 1/8" long consisting of a yellowish-green calyx with five teeth and 6-8 stamens with yellow anthers (in young flowers) that extend well outside the boundary of the calyx; petals are absent. Female flowers are also produced in drooping umbels; they are 1-2" long (including the hairy pedicel), but the flower itself is only 1/8" long consisting of a yellowish-green calyx with five teeth, a two-celled ovary, and a divided style that extends beyond the margin of the calyx. Again, petals are absent. The female flowers are wind pollinated. Fertilized flowers produce pairs of winged fruit (samaras) each about 1" long, with the two fruits at a 60-90° angle to each other. The samaras mature over the fall and must be exposed to an extensive interval of sub-freezing temperatures during the winter in order to germinate.

Acer

Acer saccharum

sugar maple [Blooms: Apr–May]