Boxelder Maple Tree

Boxelder maples are unique to other maples as their leaves don’t spread out from a point (like the Canadian maple leaf), but spread out along a centerline down the leaf, resembling poison ivy. Like other maples and ashes, it reproduces with seeds in the “helicopter” style fruit called samaras. The boxelders next to the Candle Shop are fully mature.

Boxelder maples, also simply called boxelders, typically aren’t very large trees but can grow tall in the right conditions. They can be found in dark, wet river bottoms throughout the United States and also in Canada, where it’s known as a Manitoba maple. Indigenous Americans did harvest its sap for syrup, but it is considered inferior to the widely-used sugar maple syrup or even black maple syrup. Boxelder wood has very little commercial value, but its drought and cold resistance made it a popular windbreak on the Great Plains. While not having the palmately lobed leaves typical of maples, it does produce samara-type seeds.

Branches in Time: Notable and Historic Trees of Old Washington Historic State Park . Little Rock, AR. Arkansas State Parks, 2001.