.378 Class XXIII. Order I. 



cent. Germs compressed, united, succeeded by a red fruit, 

 known by the name of maple keys, consisting of a pair of small 

 capsules, each terminated by a long, membranous appendage, 

 resembling the wing of an insect. The leaves are opposite, 

 rounded, or hearted at base, and divided into three or live prin- 

 cipal lobes, separated by a large, acute notch. They are 

 irregularly toothed, and glaucous underneath. 



The v/ood of this species is close grained, smooth, and hard. 

 It is much used in the manufacture of tables, chairs, and other- 

 kinds of furniture. A variety, denominated Curled Maple, oc- 

 casioned by the serpentine course of the fibres in some old trees, 

 has a beautiful, shaded appearance in cabinet work, and is also 

 used for gun stocks, on account of its solidity and toughness. 



ACER SACCHARINUM. L. Rock Maple. Sugar Maple. 



Leaves five parted-palmate, glabrous, entire at the 

 margin, glaucous underneath ; flowers pedimculated. 

 pendant. Mich. f. 



The Rock Maple, though common in the interior, is rarely 

 met with in the vicinity of Boston. Some young trees oocur in 

 the woods at Roxbury. The flowers of this species are yellow- 

 ish, small, and supported by slender, drooping footstalks. The 

 fruit is larger than in the Red Maple, and of a light greenish 

 colour. The leaves have three or five principal lobes, separated 

 by a sinus or notch, which is rounded, not angular, at bottom. 

 They are pale, and sometimes downy on the under side. 



The wood is hard, compact, and smooth. It is much used in 

 cabinet work, particularly a beautiful variety denominated Bird's 

 eye Maple, and a curled variety like that in the last species. It 

 makes good fuel, though inferior to walnut and oak ; and, with 

 the Belula papyracea, it constitutes a .greater portion of our 

 eastern wood. 



But the peculiar value of this tree consists in the sugar, which 

 is obtained from, its sap. A tree of the ordinary size will yield 

 from twenty to thirty gallons of sap in a season. This sap is 

 collected by boring holes in the trees, and affixing to them small 

 troughs, which convey it into reservoirs prepared for its recep- 

 tion. It is then put into large kettles and boiled down, until it 





