boxelder
Acer negundo · Aceraceae
boxelder (Acer negundo) is a perennial tree in the Aceraceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 2 and warmer, down to about -46°F.
At a glance
| Type | tree USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Mature height | 60 ft USDA |
| Light | shade USDA |
| Water need | medium USDA |
| Growth rate | rapid USDA |
| Soil pH | 5–7.8 USDA |
| Bloom | March–April USDA |
| Flower color | White USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 2 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | canopy Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It tolerates full shade. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. Its drought tolerance is rated high. It handles periodically wet ground (USDA rates its anaerobic tolerance medium). It is recorded on soils from pH 5 to 7.8 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 2.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 60 ft, making it a large tree that will dominate its site. It grows quickly.
Bloom period
USDA records a bloom period of March through April. Flowers are white.
A flowering date, not a pollinator rating.
Foliage, flower and season
Summer foliage is green, coarse in texture. Its flowers are not conspicuous — a plant for form and foliage. It carries conspicuous autumn colour. Its fruit or seed heads are conspicuous, extending interest past flowering. Its active growth period is spring and summer. USDA rates its lifespan as short, so plan on replacing or resowing it rather than treating it as permanent structure.
What the site needs to provide
USDA records it across sites receiving 15 to 75 inches of annual precipitation. The low end of that band is genuinely arid, so it has a wide tolerance for dry country. It needs at least 100 frost-free days to finish its season. It roots to at least 40 inches, too deep for containers or thin soil over bedrock. Fertility requirement: medium.
Propagating it
It takes readily from seed, cuttings, bare root and container stock. Seed needs cold stratification — a period of moist chilling — before it will germinate, so sow in autumn or chill it artificially before a spring sowing. Its seed spreads at a slow rate. It spreads vegetatively at a slow rate.
Resilience and wildlife
Browsing animals rate it barely palatable — the sourced basis for calling it deer-resistant. Its fire tolerance is rated low, and it can resprout after damage. Its growth form is recorded as multiple stem.
Role in a guild
Canopy. In a layered planting this is the tallest layer of a planting — it sets the light budget everything beneath it lives on. The layer is derived by a fixed rule from growth habit and mature height.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Acer
- vine maple Acer circinatum
- southern sugar maple Acer floridanum
- Amur maple Acer ginnala
- Rocky Mountain maple Acer glabrum
Similar role and hardiness
- bitternut hickory Carya cordiformis
- common hackberry Celtis occidentalis
- black ash Fraxinus nigra
- green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica
- Engelmann spruce Picea engelmannii
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol ACNE2, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
- Quoted from USDA PLANTS: active growth period, Bloom, Bloom end, browse palatability, cold stratification, Drought tolerance, Edible, fall conspicuous, fertility requirement, fire tolerance, Flower color, flower conspicuous, foliage color, foliage porosity winter, foliage texture, frost free days min, fruit conspicuous, growth form, Growth rate, Hardiness zones, Lifecycle, lifespan, Light, Mature height, Minimum temperature, Native status, Nitrogen fixation, Nursery availability, precipitation max in, precipitation min in, propagation, resprout ability, root depth in, seed spread rate, Soil pH, Soil pH (upper), Tolerance of wet soil, Toxicity, Type, vegetative spread rate, Water need.
- Derived by a fixed rule from those columns: Guild layer.
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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