The Acer Negundo is a medium sized perennial dicot tree that is a widely distributed with a range extending from New Jersey and central New York west through extreme southern Ontario, central Michigan, northern Minnesota, central Manitoba, central Saskatchewan, southern Alberta and central Montana, eastern Wyoming, Utah, and California; and south to southern Texas and central Florida. It is also local in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho, and Nevada. Boxelder has been naturalized in Maine, southern Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and in southeastern Washington and eastern Oregon. Varieties of boxelder occur in the mountains of Mexico (Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, and south to
Chihuahua) and in Guatemala [32]. This tree is more commonly known as the box elder, ash-leaf maple, or the three-leaf maple. The boxelder found in Utah likes to grow in moist places like flood plains, along lakes and streams, and in low-lying wet places where its root system can fins abundant water. This tree is most often found between elevations of 4,000- 8,000 feet. The Acer Negundois of the maple family and is a native tree, it is unusual among the american maple due to it having compound or divided leaves. Apart from the opposite leaves, seedlings and young sapling of the boxelder look a lot like poison ivy. This tree is important because it plays an important roll in providing habitat for many wildlife species and protect lifestock from extremes in temperature in the summer and winter. Also many species of squirrels and birds feed on the boxelder seeds.

 

 

 

Citations:

"Boxelder." Utah State University Extension - Extension.usu.edu. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://extension.usu.edu/range/woody/boxelder.htm>.

"Acer Negundo L. Boxelder." Plant Profile. United States Department of Agriculture. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ACNE2>.

"Acer Negundo L." Acer Negundo L. Encyclopedia of Life. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://www.eol.org/pages/583069>.

"Acer Negundo." US Forest Service - Caring for the Land and Serving People. Web. 09 Nov. 2010. <http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/aceneg/all.html>.