XXXIII. THE ROCK MAPLE. 491 



The sterile flowers are yellowish-green, on an undeveloped 

 branch with a pair of leaves at its base, and proceed from a 

 long, large bud, whose oblong scales are purplish, one inch 

 long and fringed with hairs. The flowers are pendulous, on 

 thread-like, hairy pedicels, one or two inches long. The calyx 

 is hairy on the edge within; petals are wanting ; the stamens 

 are about 8 or 10, twice as long as the calyx. In the fertile 

 flowers, the stamens, about 8, are on short filaments, and the 

 anthers are within the calyx. The stigmas are long, the ovary 

 is conical and hairy. The fruit is borne on long, pendulous 

 footstalks, which are either simple, or compound with several 

 pairs of opposite branches. It is larger and fuller than that of 

 the red maple, but not so thick as that of the river maple. 



The Rock Maple is found from 48° north, in Canada, to the 

 mountains of Georgia, and from Nova Scotia to Arkansas and 

 the Rocky Mountains. It is most abundant in the New Eng- 

 land States and the country immediately north and south of 

 them. It occurs sparingly in the eastern counties of Massachu- 

 setts, but abundantly in the middle and western parts, partic- 

 ularly on the moist sides of the mountains and in the little 

 valleys amongst them. 



For the purposes of art, no native wood possesses more beauty 

 or a greater variety of appearance than that of the Rock Maple. 

 It is hard, close-grained, smooth and compact, and capable of 

 taking and retaining an exquisite polish. The straight- grained 

 or common variet}^ has a resemblance to satin-wood, but is of a 

 deeper color. The variety called Curled Hard Maple, which 

 is caused by the sinuous course of the fibres, gives a change- 

 able surface of alternate light and shade, exhibiting an agree- 

 able and striking play of colors. But the most remarkable 

 variety is the Bird's Eye Maple. This is so called from a 

 contortion of the fibres at irregular intervals, throwing out a 

 variable point of light and giving an appearance of a roundish 

 projection, rising from within a slight cavity, and having a dis- 

 tant resemblance to the eye of a bird. All the varieties, par- 

 ticularly the last, are used in the manufacture of articles of 

 furniture, ward-robes, chairs, bedsteads, bureaus, portable desks, 

 frames of pictures, &c. The straight-grained variety is much 



