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Not a common tree in the Algonquin Highlands, the Silver Maple grows to 30 metres tall. It has a broad, spreading, round-topped crown, with drooping branches that turn upwards at the ends. The trunk is straight, thick and short, often dividing near the ground and often more than a metre in diameter. Often confused with the Red Maple, you can know the difference between them by breaking the twigs of both trees. The Silver Maple will have a pungent odor, while Red Maple will not.
It grows in wet , moist and rich soils. Its leaves are 8-15 cm inches long, opposite, simple, and palmately 5-lobed. The surfaces are light green above and white to silvery below, giving it the common name "Silver Maple". Its bark is smooth and gray-brown on young trees, later developing irregular furrows with thin, gray, scaly plates.
Often called Soft Maple as the wood is the softest of the maples used for lumber. It is medium-lightweight but brittle. Although the sugar grade of the sap is superior to that of the Sugar Maple, the yield is not abundant and therefore not commercially viable.
The Silver Maple is important to many wildlife species. Squirrels, rodents and birds eat the seeds; deer eat the young twigs and foliage; and hollow trunks serve as dens for raccoons and squirrels.
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