The leaves have 5 lobes that radiate from a certain point. The leaves are 8-16 cm long and 6-12 cm broad. The leaf surface is lush green, and the underside is milky white-ish green. The leaf margin is serrated.

The buds of a Silver Maple are dark red and sometimes a little bit purple. The buds are 3-6 mm, the trees flower very early in the springtime. The flowers are very small and are often covered by the bud’s scales. The buds often have 4 scales.

The bark on a young Silver Maple is smooth and gray. When the tree ages it becomes a darkish gray and breaks into strips that can be peeled off from the tree. The branch arrangement on a Silver Maple is opposite.

The silver maple prefers full sun but is slightly shade tolerant. It wants moist and rich soil. Does this tree grow better around some plants than others? There are no studies to suggest that Silver Maples grow better around other species, but Mycorrhizal fungi help any tree to grow in difficult soil, although fungi diseases are bad for a Silver Maple, leading them to literally fall apart.

The Silver Maple can grow up to 35 meters tall and 100 cm/1 m in width.

Indigenous people used the wood of the Silver Maple for making basketry to fish traps, snowshoes, bows, spear handles, paddles, and spindle whorls. The inner bark of the Silver Maples can be turned into baskets, ropes and even clothing, and the large leaves as a surface for laying food on.

Red foxes, bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, eastern chipmunk, and most birds use silver maples as a habitat and as a food source. The Silver Maple is native to Eastern North America.