PS. The roots will also tend to infiltrate sewer lines and clog them.


"Kevin Cherkauer" wrote:

It looks like it could be a silver maple (Acer saccharinum). This is a very
fast-growing, short-lived maple tree. The town I grew up in had planted them
as street trees all over the place because they are fast growers, but they
drop a lot of seeds ("helicopters") that will sprout everywhere, drop loads
of bark and many small branches, and frequently will drop major branches in
a good windstorm (not to mention ice storm); they have shallow,
far-spreading roots that ruin the lawn and heave the sidewalk or driveway;
and they go into senescence and terminal decay after around 50 years, so
many consider them to be "trash" trees and many towns don't let them be
planted as street trees anymore.

Typical identifiers are a lighter green, slightly silvery underside to the
leaves that especially shows when it is windy, and a slightly silvery outer
bark that splits into long strips about an inch or two wide that peel off
and drop in great profusion as the trunk expands in diameter. Also the
helicopter seeds (once the tree reaches maturity) -- these dry to brown and
are single, with a little egg-shaped seed at one end. They are very good
twirlers and may be carried quite far in the wind. A gust of wind will start
a rain of hundreds or thousands of these at a time from a big tree. (Compare
to the "helicopters" of Norway maples which usually have flat seeds and
often come fused together into Siamese twin pairs that makes them much
poorer at any kind of flight. :-)

On the bright side, if the tree is located far enough from buildings and
pavement, they will produce wonderful shade over a huge area in many fewer
decades than it would take to achieve the same benefits from a less
ephemeral species like an oak.

Utopia in Decay
http://home.comcast.net/~kevin.cherkauer/site

Kevin Cherkauer


"ovoco5" wrote:

Good evening,

I planted this tree four years ago, and for life of me I can't remember
what it's called. I think it could be an Acer or Maple? but I'm not sure
at all. Could someone please help me out with an ID.

[image: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...oco5/tree.jpg]