A medium-sized, bottomland tree in the eastern U.S. except for coastal plains. A common ornamental, but a brittle, soft maple. Leaves are deeply 5-lobed, serrate, silvery below, with the sides of the terminal lobe divergent.Bark is thin, gray, scaly plates that are unattached at the end. Twigs are similar to A. rubrum, but with a fetid odor when bruised. The fruits are large with wings broadly divergent and mature in late spring.