Box elder (Acer negundo)
Description
Acer negundo is a species of maple native to North America. In Canada it is commonly known as Manitoba maple and occasionally as elf maple. Box elder, boxelder maple, ash-leaved maple, and maple ash are its most common names in the United States; in the United Kingdom and Ireland it is also known as ashleaf maple. Indicative of its familiarity to many people over a large geographic range, A. negundo has numerous common names. The names "box elder" and "boxelder maple" are based upon the similarity of its whitish wood to that of boxwood and the similarity of its pinnately compound leaves to those of some species of elder. This is the only North American maple with compound leaves, though several Asian species also have them. Other common names are based upon this maple's similarity to ash, its preferred environment, its sugary sap, a description of its leaves, its binomial name, and so on. These names include (but are not limited to) ash-, cut-, or three-leaf (or -leaved) maple; ash maple; sugar ash; Negundo maple; and river maple. In Canada it is commonly known as Manitoba maple and occasionally as elf maple. In Russia, it is called American maple (Russian: америка́нский клён, tr. amerikansky klyon) as well as ash-leaf maple (Russian: клён ясенели́стный, tr. klyon yasenelistny), and in Italian acero americano. Common names may also designate a particular subspecies. For example, a common name for A. negundo subsp. interius may be preceded by "inland" (as in "inland boxelder maple"). A common name for A. negundo subsp. californicum may be preceded by "California" or "western".
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Sapindales
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Family: Sapindaceae
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Genus: Acer
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