Under Seen and Over Looked

This is the tree limb that fell in Saturday night's wind storm. It's a silver maple, Acer saccharinum, and as far as maples go, this is one I like to look at -from a distance in a wind storm. Silver maple has well-cut leaves with gray undersides, grows tall quite fast, and like most trees that grow fast, has brittle wood.

Not long after it fell that night, I broke off some branches so that I could enjoy the flowers of a large tree that are so often under seen or completely over looked.

Genevieve, over at Tree Notes, says that the flowers are important food for wildlife in the late winter, when many silver maples begin to bloom. It is certainly the earliest blooming tree around my neighborhood.

The flowers hug the branch, like the do on many trees.

Almost like sea anemone.