Gary W. Graham, Ohio State University Extension, Northeast District; James A. Chatfield, Ohio State University Extension, Northeast District and Department of Horticulture and Crop Science; Kenneth D. Cochran, Secrest Arboretum of The Ohio State University Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, Ohio.
Acer pensylvanicum. Striped maple.
This small maple, sometimes known as moosewood, (15 to 25 feet and sometimes to 30 to 35 feet) is common in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, the Appalachians, and in the woods of New England. It thrives at Secrest and elsewhere as an understory species on well-drained soils, protected from sunny and hot, urban exposures.
The prime landscape feature is the elegant creamy white-striped bark on the reddish and greenish young stems (this striping eventually fades on the bark with maturity). Leaves are five inches or more and three-lobed. The hanging clusters of greenish-yellow flowers and tiny samaras are attractive, though often overlooked. Fall color is yellow. In landscapes, striped maples are often multistemmed.
At Secrest, A. pensylvanicum, the hybrid Acer x'White Tigress' introduced by nurseryman Tim Brotzman of Lake County, Ohio, and specimens of the Asian Manchustriped maple, A. tegmentosum, are all along the upper trail of the John Ford Azalea Allee.
A. pensylvanicum is the only so-called "snakebark" maple native to North America; there are over a dozen snakebark species of Asiatic origin. The "misspelling" of the A.pensylvanicum specific epithet is enshrined forever by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, courtesy of Linnaeus's original citation.