Acer negundo

Box elder

Family: Sapindaceae · Type: tree · Native

Box elder is a California native tree found in the California Floristic Province along streamsides and bottomland habitats at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from March to April, this tree produces small, pendulous panicle clusters without petals. Growing up to 20 meters tall with a dioecious habit, it develops distinctive compound leaves with 3 to 9 leaflets. Its leaves are 1 to 2-ternate, with terminal leaflets 4 to 11 centimeters long and 3 to 9 centimeters wide, featuring a green underside that is often felty or sparsely pubescent. The tree's fruit develops distinctive winged seeds that spread at 60 to 90-degree angles.

Habitat: Streamsides, bottomland

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: CA-FP

California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, Butte, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Siskiyou, Yolo, Lassen, Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Inyo, Monterey, Solano, Santa Cruz, Mono, San Mateo, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Ventura, Santa Clara, El Dorado, Tehama, Merced, Placer, Mendocino, Napa, Lake, San Joaquin

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.