Acer pensylvanica is a shrub or small tree. The opposite, simple leaves are shallowly lobed with small teeth along the margin. The bark of young branches is green and the most conspicuous character is the presence of conspicuous light-colored stripes on branches and young trunks. Buds and often twigs of Acer spicatum are clearly pubescent , but those of A. pensylvanicum are glabrous. Also the inflorescences of Acer spicatum are erect and those of A. pensylvanicum are pendulous.

The range of Acer pensylvanica is primarily in the northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada, extending farther southward to northern Georgia in the Appalachian Mountains. It reaches its western limit in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is very rare in Wisconsin where it is known from only one location in a mostly deciduous forest in Door county. It was first discovered in Wisconsin 1997 by Mike Grimm of the Nature Conservancy--a remarkable find considering the long history of botany in Wisconsin and the numerous visitors to Door County.