How do you recognise Box elder (Acer negundo)?

Leaf

Pierre Bonnet, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

Box elder

Acer negundo L.

Also known as: Ash-leaved maple, Manitoba maple

Family: Sapindaceae

10 to 20 m tall

Riverbanks, widely naturalised

Flowering: March – April, before the leaves

Part shade

Full sun

-34°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

The only native or naturalised maple with compound leaves — all the others have a simple lobed leaf. Common ash has opposite, lanceolate, toothed leaflets, without the typical double-winged fruits of maples; box elder, despite its almost identical compound leaves, is recognised by its opposite green buds and its samaras winged in pairs.

🍃 Leaves

Compound, 3 to 7 toothed leaflets — unique among maples in not having a simple leaf

🌸 Flowers

Pendent flowers on fine threads before the leaves appear

🍎 Fruits

Samaras with narrowly spread wings

🪵 Bark

Pale grey, characteristic green shoots

🗺️ Distribution

Native to North America, widely naturalised in Europe; invasive in places in France, notably along rivers

🐝 Value for pollinators

Early flowering before the leaves, nectar-rich, appreciated by bees in early spring

✂️ Horticultural uses

Planted in urban avenues for its fast growth, exists in ornamental variegated varieties

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Seeds (samaras) and young seedlings rich in hypoglycin A, toxic to horses (atypical myopathy / seasonal pasture myopathy), as in sycamore; risk of fatal poisoning if horses graze near seedlings or seeds fallen on the ground. No known risk to humans from mere contact.

🌱 Known cultivars

Flamingo

The most widely sold box elder cultivar: leaves edged in creamy white, with spectacular pink spring shoots that give the variety its "flamingo" name.

Aureomarginatum

Leaves with a wide golden margin on a green background, hardier and more vigorous than Flamingo; valued for brightening a border without the fragile pink shoots of the other variety. (Not to be confused with 'Auratum', a distinct cultivar with entirely golden foliage.)

⚠️ Look-alike species

Box elder

Acer negundo

Common ash

Fraxinus excelsior

Common ash has opposite, lanceolate, toothed leaflets, without the typical double-winged fruits of maples; box elder, despite its almost identical compound leaves, is recognised by its opposite green buds and its samaras winged in pairs.

🌿 Other Sapindaceae to discover

Sycamore maple

Acer pseudoplatanus

Horse chestnut

Aesculus hippocastanum

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.