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Boxelder trees reach respectable sizes — up to 60' tall and with a trunk up to 4.5' in diameter (although 3' is more typical). Branching is rapid such that the crown may be wider than the tree is tall. 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 as in the image) or a greenish-white, deeply-forked style (female). The flowers are wind pollinated.

Acer

Acer negundo

boxelder [Blooms: Apr-May]

Perfect flowers are rare in red maple; individual trees may produce all male flowers, all female flowers, or both male flowers and female flowers on the same tree. Male flowers occur on the previous year's twigs (before the leaves open) as dense clusters 3/4-1" across composed of sessile flowers surrounded by bracts with hairy margins; each flower has five sepals and five petals (making up a red or sometimes yellow bell-shaped corolla), and 5-8 slender, projecting stamens two to three times longer than the sepals. The female flowers also occur on the previous year's twigs before the leaves open as dense (3/4-1" across) clusters of initially sessile flowers, but the pedicels of the flowers soon elongate (to 1/2-2") and the flowers begin to droop; each flower has five sepals and five petals (making up a red or sometimes yellow bell-shaped corolla), and a two celled, hairless ovary with a pair of robust, arching red styles in the center. The flowers are wind pollinated. Fertilized flowers are soon transformed into a pair of red, winged samaras (i.e, maple seeds) joined tip to tip. At maturity, the samaras are each 3/4-1" long.

Acer

Acer rubrum

red maple [Blooms: Apr–?]