Fair — lower yieldAlso called Ashleaf maple, Manitoba maple, Boxelder maple

Boxelder

Acer negundo

Yes, it's a real maple and its sap can be sweet — just expect less of it and a darker, molasses-like syrup.

Boxelder winter twig: a smooth green stem with whitish bloom, fuzzy pinkish-white buds, and opposite leaf scars meeting in points — Photo: DouglasGoldman, CC BY-SA 4.0

Mature boxelder bark in March, light gray with shallow interlacing furrows and narrow ridges — Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Fallen boxelder compound leaves, each with three to five leaflets, lying on autumn leaf litter — Photo: Gorbunova M.S. (Горбунова М.С.), CC BY-SA 4.0

Identify it in winter

Opposite branching — boxelder is a true maple, even though it doesn't look like one.
Twigs are green to purplish-green, often with a whitish waxy bloom.
Buds are white and fuzzy; the narrow opposite leaf scars meet in raised points around the twig.
Clusters of V-shaped winged seeds often hang on all winter.
Bark is thin, pale gray to light brown, with shallow ridges that deepen with age. Trees are often multi-trunked with a bushy crown and sprouts along the trunk.

In summer

The only native maple with compound leaves: 3–7 (rarely 9) leaflets.
The end leaflet often looks like a small, three-lobed maple leaf.

Easily confused with

Green ash

Also opposite with compound leaves, but its leaves carry 7–9 leaflets, its gray to green-brown twigs have semicircular leaf scars with the bud perched on top, and its seeds are single-winged instead of paired.

Sap sugar: Often 2% or more (2.2–2.8% in a Utah study); individual trees can top 3–4%
Season: Boxelder breaks bud earlier than sugar maple, so plan on an early, shorter run. In the Utah study it flowed for about five to six weeks, from late February or early March into early April.
Syrup: Most boxelder syrup has its own molasses- or sorghum-like flavor, strongest in darker grades — boil it separately from other maples. On the Canadian prairies it's sold as “Manitoba maple syrup.” A bucket tap typically makes about a third to half a quart of syrup a year, vs. roughly a quart from sugar maple.
Range: The most widespread maple in North America — coast to coast, from Canada south to Guatemala, most at home along streams and bottomlands.

Tapping it?

Sources

North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, 2nd ed. (Bulletin 856) — Ch. 3 “The Maple Resource” and Ch. 7 “Rule of 86” — Ohio State University Extension with the North American Maple Syrup Council
Boxelder (Acer negundo) — Overton — USDA Forest Service — Silvics of North America (Agriculture Handbook 654, 1990)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum) — Walters & Yawney — USDA Forest Service — Silvics of North America (Agriculture Handbook 654, 1990)
Boxelder (Acer negundo) — Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet — Virginia Tech Dendrology (Dept. of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation)
Sap Yield and Sugar Content of Boxelder and Norway Maple Trees in Northern Utah (HortTechnology 34(1), 2024) — Utah State University / American Society for Horticultural Science
Identifying Maple Trees (Maple Toolkit) — Ohio State University Extension — Ohio Woodland Stewards
Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) — Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet — Virginia Tech Dendrology (Dept. of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation)

Other trees

Sugar maple Red maple Silver maple Black maple Norway maple Paper birch Black walnut

Keep this season's numbers for next year

LuckySap logs every collection with its sugar reading and your notes, then lines this season up against the last. Free on iPhone.