Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | Boxelder is a medium-sized tree that reaches heights of 75 to 80 feet, 2 to 4 feet in diameter. Limbs are horizontal and branch to form a wide, rounded, bushy crown. |
| Leaves: | The leaves are pinnately compound, opposite, and deciduous. They generally have 3 to 7 and sometimes 9 leaflets on a central stalk 6 to 15 inches in length. Leaflets are longer than wide at 2 to 4 inches long by 1 to 2 ½ inches wide. Leaflets are ovate to elliptical in outline. Margin is coarsely serrate or slightly lobed. Leaves are light green and slightly pubescent above, while paler below. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are stout, shiny, green or purplish-green. The pith is white and homogeneous. |
| Bark: | Green-gray and smooth on immature trees. Mature trees are shallowly grooved and gray-brown. |
| Flowers: | The species is dioecious, meaning that there are separate male and female trees. Male flowers are held on long red stalks that make the trees showy in the springtime. Female flowers are green and in drooping clusters. |
| Fruit: | Fruit is a reddish-brown, V-shaped double samara, which occurs in clusters on slender stalks. The seedcase is long, narrow, and flattened. It is pale yellow in color, maturing in summer and remaining attached in the winter. The wings are thin and about 1 to 1 ½ inches in length. The fruit is found in drooping clusters. |
Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List:
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