BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Acer pensylvanicum | Striped Maple 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Striped maple is a native, deciduous, tall shrub or small tree.  It
reaches a maximum height of about 45 feet (13 m), but is usually smaller
[11,16].  It has a short, forked trunk divided into a few ascending,
arching branches, forming a broad but uneven, flat-topped to rounded
crown.  The branchlets are straight and slender [6,11].  Striped maple
is primarily dioecious; monoecy is rare.  The sex ratio is male-biased.
Hibbs [9] reported that 80 percent of a Massachusetts population was
male.  The fruit of striped maple is a two-winged sumara.  The root
system is shallow and wide-spreading [6,11].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Sexual reproduction: Striped maple reproduces mostly by seed.  Seed
production varies from tree to tree; some trees produce as few as 10
seeds, whereas others produce several thousand.  Seed production begins
at about 10 years of age, and large seed crops are produced every year.
The seeds are wind dispersed [6,18].

A small proportion of striped maples undergo gender change.  The gender
of such trees may differ from year to year [9,19].  In one year, in a
sample of trees taken in western Massachusetts, 27 of 243 trees changed
sex.  Most changes were from male to female [6].

Vegetative reproduction: Vegetative reproduction does not seem to play
an important part in the reproduction of striped maple.  Although it
reproduces by layering and basal sprouting, sampling of striped maple
populations showed that only 3 percent of the trees originated from
layering, and 8 percent by sprouting [6].  In general, vegetative
propagation seems to be a mechanism by which it survives suppression
rather than increases in number [6].



SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Striped maple is found on moist, acid soils in deep valleys and on cool,
moist, shaded, north-facing slopes.  In middle elevations and on mesic
sites in the Green Mountains of Vermont, it is found from 1,830 to 2,830
feet (550-830 m) in elevation.  It reaches best development below 2,430
feet (730 m) in elevation [6,9].



SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Striped maple is tolerant of deep shade but develops best under moderate
light [3,16].  Rapid shoot growth can occur under low light intensity,
but the growth is etiolated.  Under direct sunlight, striped maple is
succeeded by mountain maple.  It grows well in small forest openings and
under thinned overstorys that result in moderate understory lighting.
Because its maximum height growth is about 50 feet (15 m), it never
becomes a major component in the upper canopy of northern hardwood
forests.  It may, however, occupy forest openings for more than 100
years [6,21,22].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Striped maple flowers from May to June.  The fruits ripen in September
and October and are dispersed in October and November [18].

Related categories for Species: Acer pensylvanicum | Striped Maple