William J. Gabriel and Russell S. Walters

    Striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) (8), also  called moosewood, is a small tree or large shrub identified by  its conspicuous vertical white stripes on greenish-brown bark. It  grows best on shaded, cool northern slopes of upland valleys  where it is common on welldrained sandy loams in small forest  openings or as an understory tree in mixed hardwoods. This very  slow growing maple may live to be 100 and is probably most  important as a browse plant for wildlife, although the tree is  sometimes planted as an ornamental in heavily shaded areas  (33,37).

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     NY  NC  OH  PA  RI  SC  TN  VT  VA  WV
     NB  NS  ON  PE  PQ

More info for the term: natural

Striped maple is widely distributed over the northeastern quarter of the
United States and adjacent southeastern Canada.  Its natural range
extends from Nova Scotia and the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec west to
southern Ontario, Michigan, and eastern Minnesota; south to northeastern
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and in the Appalachian Mountains to
northern Georgia [6,14].

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Acer pensylvanicum L.:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

More info for the terms: dioecious, shrub, tree

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].

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].

More info for the term: hardwood

Striped maple is a common but minor understory forest component.  It
appears as an understory species in boreal mixed woodland, and in
spruce-fir and hardwood types in northern forest regions.

The most common understory associates of striped maple include
hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium), Canada yew (Taxus canadensis),
mountain maple (Acer spicatum), oxalis (Oxalis spp.), eastern
hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), American hornbeam (Carpinus
caroliniana), serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), hawthorn (Crataegus
spp.), and pawpaw (Asimina triloba) [6,17,25].

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

     5  Balsam fir
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    28  Black cherry - maple
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    32  Red spruce
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    44  Chestnut oak
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
   107  White spruce

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch

Striped maple is found on brown and gray-brown podzolic soils  (orders Inceptisols, Alfisols, and Spodosols) that characterize  the areas of mixed coniferous and hardwood forests. It also grows  on the strongly weathered and leached podzols (order Spodosols)  as well as on darker melanized soils (order Mollisols) (3,47).  Compared to other species in the genus Acer, which are  relatively indifferent to soil reaction, striped maple prefers  acid soils (42,45). Neither the range in soil pH nor the  optimum acidity level is known for the species.

    Soil moisture and texture influence the local distribution of  striped maple. It is common on sandy loams that are moist and  well drained (23,42). A study of local distribution in  western Massachusetts showed that on study plots where striped  maple was present there was a positive correlation between  species density and windthrow mounds that resulted in small  openings in the stand. No significant correlations were found  with depths of organic and A horizons, rock outcrops, or  stoniness of soils (13,16).

    In areas of granitic drift in the White Mountains of New  Hampshire, striped maple of sapling size was most abundant (15  percent of total basal area) on soils with a matrix of  sharp-angled or rounded boulders or on nearly pure weathered  granite found not more than 65 cm (26 in) below the top of  mineral soil (24). On wet compact till and on washed  till, the species made up 6.8 percent and 7.3 percent of the  stand basal area, respectively It is one of five species that  seems to be permanent and abundant in local distribution on a  well-drained, fine, sandy loam podzol in the White Mountains (23).

    Striped maple and its associates are found on glaciated knoll tops  and slopes in Quebec (26). In the mountainous areas of  New England, it develops best at elevations between 550 and 800 m  (1,800 and 2,600 ft) (2,42). It apparently does not do  well at higher elevations in the northeast. In two transects  beginning at 610 and 630 m (2,000 and 2,070 ft) at different  locations in the white Mountains of New Hampshire, striped maple  was only 2 to 4 percent of the basal area of the forest stand  (25). It dropped out completely between elevations of 830  and 860 m (2,720 and 2,820 ft).

    Density of striped maple in western Massachusetts increased with a  slope up to 450 and with an elevation up to 700 m (2,300  ft) (13,16). Growth increased on northerly facing, local  aspects and on steeper slopes and towards the top of slopes. In  the southern Appalachian Mountains, the species is common on  mesic sites with an elevation between 760 and 1370 m (2,500 and  4,500 ft); above this elevation it disappears very rapidly (46).

    Striped maple attains its best growth on shaded, cool northern  slopes in deep valleys (18). It can exist under a number  of different combinations of environmental factors, but as a  mesophyte it favors habitats where moisture conditions are  moderate.

The important climatic factors within the range of striped maple  are as follows: total annual precipitation, 710 to 1630 mm (28 to  64 in); normal monthly growing season precipitation (May, June,  July, and August), 50 to 100 mm (2 to 4 in) in the northern and  eastern part of the range and from 100 to 200 mm (4 to 8 in) in  the central and southern sections; mean annual total snowfall, 5  to 250 cm (2 to 100 in) with pockets up to 500 cm (200 in); mean  length of frost-free period between the last 0°C (32°  F) temperature in the spring and the first 0° C (32° F)  in the autumn, 90 to 210 days; and average January temperature,  -12° C (10° F) to 4° C (40° F) (43).

Striped maple is a common but minor forest component, appearing as  an understory species in the boreal hardwoods and in the  spruce-fir and northern hardwood types of the northern forest  region. It is a part of the undergrowth vegetation in 12 of the  following eastern forest cover types (Society of American  Foresters) (7).

    17 Pin Cherry
  20 White Pine - Northern Red Oak - Red Maple
  22 White Pine - Hemlock
  23 Eastern Hemlock
  24 Hemlock -Yellow Birch
  25 Sugar Maple – Beech - Yellow Birch
  28 Black Cherry-Maple
  30 Red Spruce - Yellow Birch
  31 Red Spruce - Sugar Maple - Beech
  32 Red Spruce
  35 Paper Birch - Red Spruce - Balsam Fir
  60 Beech - Sugar Maple

    In the boreal hardwoods, striped maple is found in association  with the following overstory species: pin cherry (Prunus  pensylvanica), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), bigtooth  aspen (P. grandidentata), paper birch (Betula  papyrifera), yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis), red  maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (A. saccharum), American  beech (Fagus grandifolia), northern red oak (Quercus  rubra), balsam fir (Abies balsamea), and red spruce  (Picea rubens).

    In the spruce-fir cover types in the northern forest region, the  dominant species in association with striped maple are red  spruce, gray birch (Betula populifolia), American  mountain ash (Sorbus americana), American beech, and  sugar maple. In the northern hardwoods, the most common overstory  species are sugar maple, American beech, yellow birch, black  cherry (Prunus serotina), and eastern hemlock (Tsuga  canadensis) (2,13,16,42). Striped maple in the southern  Appalachian Mountains appears with eastern hemlock, Carolina  silverbell (Halesia carolina), yellow buckeye (Aesculus  octandra), sugar maple, white basswood (Tilia  heterophylla), yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea), black  birch (Betula lenta), and witch-hazel (Hamamelis  virginiana) (46).

    The most common understory species associated with striped maple  in addition to reproduction of the overstory species are  hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium), Canada yew (Taxus  canadensis), mountain maple (Acer spicatum), woodsorrell  (Oxalis spp.), eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya  virginiana), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana),  serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), hawthorn (Crataegus  spp.), and pawpaw (Asimina triloba).

Probably the most serious enemy of  striped maple is Verticillium wilt (Verticillium albo-atrum),  a soil-borne stem disease that kills the trees it attacks  (12). Less destructive to the species is Cristulariella  depraedens, one of the common leaf spot diseases found on a  number of other maple species (36). Although Pezicula  trunk and branch cankers are found on several maple species, Pezicula  subcarnea attacks striped maple only (9). P acericola  occasionally appears on striped maple but is most common on  mountain maple.

    The species is relatively free of insect attack. However, it is  subject to infestation by one of the flatheaded borers, Agrilus  politus, which forms stem galls (4).

The Research Project Summary Early postfire effects of a prescribed fire
in the southern Appalachians of North Carolina provides information on
prescribed fire and postfire response of plant community species, including
striped maple, that was not available when this species review was originally
written.

More info for the terms: density, prescribed fire, root crown, tree

Striped maple probably sprouts from the root crown after fire [6].
Information regarding postfire establishment of striped maple is sparse.

On the George Washington National Forest, West Virginia, a spring prescribed
fire increased total striped maple density in a mixed-hardwood forest.
Average striped maple seedling densities before fire and in postfire year 5
were were 3,921 and 2,158 seedlings/acre, respectively; striped maple sprout
densities were 342 sprouts/acre before and 1,658 sprouts/acre 5 years after
the fire. See the Research Paper of Wendel and Smith's [26] study for details
on the fire prescription and fire effects on striped maple and 6 other tree
species.

More info for the term: crown fire

Striped maple establishes from seed and/or sprouts after fire [103]. 
Crown fire that burns only the upper canopy of a deciduous forest
presumably has little effect on striped maple, because striped
maple never reaches the upper canopy.  Crown fire can create
partial openings in a stand, ideal for striped maple recruitment [2,4,15].

More info for the terms: crown residual colonizer, secondary colonizer, shrub

   Tall shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
   Crown residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
   Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

More info for the term: tree

Striped maple is moderately resistant to low-severity fires.  In a study
of tree survival after low-severity surface fires in Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, striped maple showed a positive correlation of
bark thickness to tree diameter growth.  Equations relating bark
thickness, tree diameter, tree diameter growth rate, and fire survival
were given [8].

More info on this topic.

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 overstories 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].

More info for the terms: layering, tree

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].

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: phanerophyte

  
   Phanerophyte

More info for the terms: shrub, tree

Tree, Shrub

The species is ideally suited  to expanding and developing its understory position in the forest  should the situation arise. Large numbers of small trees that are  capable of surviving from year to year under heavy shade await a  disturbance in the upper canopy. They show an instant response to  increased light even though overtopped for as long as 35 to 40  years. The species does not require full sunlight to realize its  maximum growth potential but grows best under moderate lighting  found in partial or small forest openings. Striped maple is  classed as very tolerant of shade. Sexual reproduction in striped  maple is closely associated with changes in the upper canopy,  resulting in regeneration of the trees that will be stored in the  understory (13,15). Asexual propagation is capable of  regenerating individual trees within a few months.

    Striped maple is often considered a serious silvicultural problem.  When large numbers of this species occupy an understory before  cutting, they frequently become the dominant vegetation after  cutting, excluding more desirable species (17). In  Allegheny

    hardwood stands in northwestern Pennsylvania, Marquis and others  (30) found that when more than 30 percent of the 1.83-m  (6-ft) radius regeneration plots had more than eight striped  maple seedlings before clearcutting, these species became  dominant after cutting. If the number of striped maple stems  exceeds these recommendations, it is essential to reduce their  number before harvest cutting to permit establishment of  regeneration of desirable hardwood species. Striped maple can be  controlled with glyphosate applied with a mistblower at the rate  of 1.12 kg/ha (1 lb/acre) a.i. Best kill was achieved when  applied from July 1 through September 1 (17).

The root system of striped maple is  shallow and wide-spreading (18), illustrating its  adaptation to an understory position in the forest. Because it is  protected from wind damage by the dominant trees in the  overstory, it does not need a deep root system designed for  strong support, and its shallow, spreading features make it  strongly competitive for soil moisture and nutrients.

More info on this topic.

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

Vegetative reproduction does not  seem to play an important part in the reproduction of the  species. Although striped maple reproduces by layering and basal  sprouting, sampling of a striped maple population showed that  only 3 percent of the trees originated from layering and 8  percent by sprouting (15). In general, natural vegetative  propagation of the species seems to be a mechanism by which it  survives suppression rather than increasing its numbers. The  first leaves of sprouts are small, with coarse serrations, and  are unlobed. Sprouting begins relatively soon after a tree dies.  Sprouts appeared around the main stem of understory trees within  2 months after main stems were killed in a prescribed burn.

    In vitro culture of striped maple has been successful.  Callus tissue was formed in a medium consisting of a mixture of  coconut milk, naphthalene acetic acid, sucrose, and salt (31).

- Newly collected striped maple seeds  are dormant and must receive moist stratification at 5°  C (41°F) for 0 to 120 days to germinate (40). Mature  seeds covered only by the current year's leaf litter do not  germinate until the second year but, if buried under soil or  humus, germinate the first year. There also seems to be a  testaimposed dormancy in the species which causes mechanical  restriction of radicle elongation. Seeds would not germinate  after stratification of 30 to 90 days with the testae intact, but  when testae were removed from over the radicles, germination was  rapid and complete. Unstratified seeds with the testae removed  from over the radicles and treated with benzyladenine germinated  100 percent at 23° C (74° F) (49).

    Delay in germination of striped maple seed was reduced when  two-thirds of the basal area of the stand was removed and was  completely eliminated when the stand was clearcut (29). In  the clearcut, however, total germination dropped sharply with the  complete removal of the overstory.

    Seed germination is epigeal, with the radicle first to emerge.  Soon after the emergence and elongation of the radicle, the shoot  begins its upward growth. The cotyledons unfold and are followed  by the formation of the first pair of leaves. The leaf margins  are serrate and lobes are usually absent. The leaf area is small,  ranging from about 25 to 65 mm (1 to 2.5 in) (5).

    Suppressed new seedlings generally grow less than 30 mm (1.2 in)  per year and mortality is nearly 90 percent after the first  growing season. In the following 15 years, the mortality rate  drops to less than 1 percent per year. Between 15 and 40 years of  age, mortality rises to 3.8 percent per year but drops to 1.6  percent after 40 years (13,14).

Striped maple develops best under  moderate light intensity. Rapid shoot growth under low light  intensity can occur but the growth resembles etiolation (48).  Under direct sunlight striped maple may be succeeded by  mountain maple (19).

    The species is well adapted to survival under heavy shade. As a  suppressed understory tree, its growth and development are  extremely slow. Height growth over a 10-year period may be as  little as 30 cm (12 in), but trees that have been heavily  suppressed for 35 to 40 years respond well to release(13,14).

    Growth rate of trees following the removal of the overstory is  correlated with growth rate before over-story removal, whether or  not they were previously growing in a suppressed or released  state. The maximum rate of growth observed among released striped  maple under optimum light was 1 m (3.3 ft) per year. The species  grows well in small forest openings and under a thinned overstory  that results in moderate understory lighting. Because its maximum  height growth is about 15 m (49 ft), it will never become a major  member in the upper canopy of the northern hardwood forest cover  type, though the species has been known to occupy forest openings  for more than 100 years (13,14).

No organized genetics research has been conducted in striped  maple, probably because of its lack of commercial value. The  species hybridizes in nature with Tatarian maple (Acer  tatarium) as the female parent, resulting in the hybrid A.  boscii (20). Striped maple has a chromosome complement of  n=13, determined from specimens collected from several northern  localities. No marked meiotic irregularities were observed. The  species appears to be diploid over the northern part of its range  (38).

    Sex expression was studied in two different samples of 69 and 243  trees each in western Massachusetts. Results of both samples were  nearly identical, implying that no genetic differences existed in  sex expression between the two areas sampled and that samples  came from the same population with respect to the character  sampled.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread and common small tree species of southeastern Canada and northern U.S., ranging southward along the Appalachians.

Comments: Land-use conversion, habitat fragmentation, and forest management practices are low-level threats to this species in the southernmost portion of its wide range (Southern Appalachian Species Viability Project 2002).

More info for the term: hardwood

When striped maple regeneration is abundant before cutting, it
frequently become the dominant species after cutting, excluding more
desirable species [10].  In northwest
Pennsylvania, when more than 30
percent of regeneration plots had more than eight striped maple
seedlings before clearcutting, this species became dominant after
cutting.  If the number of striped maple stems exceeds this percentage,
it is essential to reduce their numbers before cutting to encourage
regeneration of desirable hardwood species.  Striped maple can be
controlled with glyphosate applied with a mistblower at the rate of 1
lb/acre (1.12 kg/ha).  Best kill was achieved when applied from July 1
through September 1 [6,10].

Striped maple is an important wildlife food.  It is one of the preferred
species for rabbits, and is frequently eaten by porcupines.  The leaves
and shoots are browsed by moose, white-tailed deer, and beavers [11,12].
Ruffed grouse consume the vegetative buds [6].  The nectar is an
important food source for honeybees [1].

The wood of striped maple wood is porous and fine grained, and has
occasionally been used by cabinet makers for inlay material [6].

Striped maple is occasionally planted as an ornamental [11].

Probably the most important use of striped maple is for wildlife  food. It is one of the preferred species for rabbits and is  frequently eaten by porcupines (6,34). It provides browse  for deer and moose, though the net energy derived from winter  browse is relatively low (27,32,44). The samaras are  eaten, to a limited extent, by ruffed grouse (22). when  Populus species are lacking, striped maple is eaten by  beavers and it is browsed by woodland caribou during summer  months (41,44).

    Striped maple is occasionally planted as an ornamental tree.  Because it does poorly in full sun-light, it must be planted with  other species. It was introduced into England about 1760, and  into continental Europe shortly thereafter where reportedly it  reached heights of 9 to 12 m (30 to 40 ft) with trunk diameters  up to 45 cm (18 in).

    The wood of the species is diffuse-porous, white, and fine  grained, and on occasions has been used by cabinet makers for  inlay material. Botanists who visited North America in the early  18th century found that farmers in the American colonies and in  Canada fed both dried and green leaves of the species to their  cattle during the winter. when the buds began to swell in the  spring, they turned their horses and cows into the woods to  browse on the young shoots.

    An active antitumor substance has been isolated from striped  maple, and tests are underway to determine its practical  application (10).