XXXIII. THE MOUNTAIN MAPLE. 497 



shaped or rounded at base, smooth, impressed at the veins 

 above, paler and with the veinlets ferruginous, downy, or hairy 

 beneath ; cicatrix of the bud leaves conspicuous, above which 

 are two raised lines encircling the branch. Upper leaves often 

 long and very narrow. Clusters of fruit pendulous. 



I have no doubt, from what I have observed of this beautiful 

 tree, that it might be easily trained to a height of thirty feet. 

 I have found it growing naturally twenty-five feet high, and 

 nineteen or twenty inches in circumference, and Mr. Bacon, of 

 Richmond, tells me he has known it attain the height of thirty- 

 five feet. It well deserves careful cultivation. The striking 

 striated appearance of the trunk, at all times, the delicate rose 

 color of the buds and leaves on opening, and the beauty of the 

 ample foliage afterwards, the graceful, pendulous racemes of 

 flowers, succeeded by large, showy keys, not unlike a cluster 

 of insects, Avill sufficiently recommend it. In France, Michaux 

 says it has been increased to four times its natural size by 

 grafting on the sycamore. 



There are few uses of this beautiful little tree. In the west- 

 ern part of the State, where it is well known, its leaves are 

 successfully applied to inflamed wounds and bruises. 



Sp. 5. The Mountain Maple. A. spicatam. L. 



Figured in Audubon's Birds, II, Plate 134 ; also by Michaux, I, 253 ; Loudon, 



Arboretum, V, 30. 



The Mountain Maple is a slender, small tree or shrub, usually 

 rising eight feet or more, although it sometimes attains thrice that 

 height, as I observed particularly in Becket. The recent shoots 

 are of a fresh, light green, with an orange or purplish shade, 

 somewhat downy. Those of the previous year are of a light 

 purple, smooth, with indistinct dots, blotched and striated below 

 with green. The branches and trunk are of a clear, light gray, 

 striate with olive above and rough at base. 



The leaves, which are heart-shaped at base, coarsely toothed, 

 downy beneath, and divided into 3 or 5 lobes, which taper to a 

 point, are on very long petioles, which become scarlet in Sep- 

 tember. The racemes are on the ends of the branches, the keys 

 very divergent, and smaller than those of any other species. 

 64 



