NORTH AMERICAN MAPLES. 103 



mostly red or purple, their lenticels few and inconspicuous ; 

 leaf scars very narrow, margined and nearly meeting; 

 buds green or reddish, densely covered with very short 

 appressed gray hairs. — Canada to Saskatchawan, south to 

 Virginia, Kentucky, and the mountains of Georgia. 





Group II. Vine Maples (Plate 14). 



Buds nearly sessile, the outer pair of scales separated. 



A. circinatum Pursh (Vine Maple). — Spreading or 

 prostrate shrub or small tree. Bark very thin, dingy gray- 

 ish-brown, generally with slightly marked or no lenticels, 

 closely and shallowly white grooved; twigs mostly viscid 

 and with sparse long and soft hairs, slender, green- 

 ish to red, without conspicuous lenticels ; leaf scars with 

 appressed thin border, ciliate in the axils ; buds broadly 

 conical, rather obtuse, with more or less abundant long hairs, 

 the terminal frequently abortive and concealed by the 

 enlarged uppermost pair of lateral buds ; pith in my speci- 

 mens rarely a little brownish. — British Columbia to the 

 mountains of northern California. 



Group III. Sycamore Maples (Plate 15). 



Buds nearly sessile, large: exposed scales mostly 6. 



A. maorophyllum Pursh (Long-leaved Maple). — Tree 



of medium or large size. Bark gray-brown, thick, deeply 

 fissured, with anastomosing ridges; twigs stout, glabrous, 

 green to purple, somewhat glaucous, with numerous small 

 lenticels; pith brownish; leaf scars broad, contiguous, with 

 7 to 9 bundle scars; buds purplish , large, plump, ovoid, red 

 or green, the lateral closely appressed, — Alaska to southern 

 California. 



Group IV. Soft Maples (Plate 15). 



Buds nearly sessile, mostly red: exposed scales 6 to 8. 



A. saccharinum L. — A. dasijcarpum ( Silver Maple ) , 

 Large diffusely branched tree. Bark moderately thick, 



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