They all appear to be Maples, but which ones? I'll leave that to the Maple Society folks - they know far better than I.
Norway maple (unless details like angle of seed wings indicate sugar maple) Box elder Silver maple (or perhaps Freeman maple, a frequently planted hybrid with red maple that can also occur spontaneously wherever the two parents grow together)
#1 - Norway Maple Acer platanoides (definite; not Sugar Maple) #2 - Manitoba Maple Acer negundo (not an elder Sambucus spp.) #3 - Silver Maple Acer saccharinum
Boys, boys, play nice! We've had the common names discussion multiple times in other threads - let's not start it again here, shall we? (Personally, I call the weedy tree in question a Manitoba Maple, but I'm also Canadian, and that's the common name there. I also used to add expletives before the name - some people might like Acer negundo, but I'm most definitely not one of them.)
I agreed with the Norway maple and the Silver maple but i wasn't sure of the Box Elder since my tree reference book shows Box Elder having 7 leaves per stem and the seed wings/pods look different. I went back to where i found them to check, and each stem has only three leaves. I also got a couple more pics. Leaves and seeds. My tree field guide lists Boxelder, Ashleaf maple & Manitoba maple as all being different names for the same tree, Acer negundo L. But as i said the books pictures differ from the pics i took.
I'd still say it's Manitoba Maple. Those suckers are notoriously variable, particularly leaves/leaflets and samaras.
What's false is representing common names as only being botanically apt, as though all people coining and using them were taking that approach. It misleads novices posting questions on the internet. No question tree is box elder, try looking at other pictures and reading further.
Definitely Manitoba Maple; the young seed spike clearly shows maple seeds. Not an elder; they have a very different floral structure. What's false is calling a maple an elder, i.e., stating it is a Sambucus. It's a lie, and misleads novices posting questions on the internet. Just because some 17th century botanical incompetent misidentified a maple as an elder, doesn't mean you have to go on repeating this error in perpetuity. You can do better than that. I'd only expect this sort of truth-twisting from a creationist, to satisfy their interest in denying evolution and botanical relationship.
Weedbender, isn't it great to have such enthusiasm about identifying your trees?! Agree with the salient points here that the one in question is Acer negundo. And I agree with Lorax that there are colorful descriptors that generally precede whatever name I call it...
So what would be the appropriate, latin, colorful expletive ? I want to make sure i'm politically correct ; )
