Acer iataricum, 

 THE TARTARIAN MAPLE. 



Synonymes. 



Acer tataricum, 



Erable de TartanC; 

 Tartarischer Ahorn, 

 Zarza-modon, f Locust,) 

 Tartarian Maple, 



LiNN^us, Species Plantarura. 



De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Russia. 



Britain and Anglo- America. 



Engravings. Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, i., figure 114, o. 4:}4, et v. pi. 25; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves cordate, undivided, serrated, with obsolete lobes. Racemes compound, 

 crowded, erect ; wings of fruit parallel, young ones puberulous. Don, 3IiUer's Diet. 



Description. 



'f^ HE Tartarian Maple, in 



H h H i^ favourable situations, at- 



^1 [J f^ tains a height of forty 



^^^^^ or fifty feet; but near 

 the river Wolga, and its tributaries, it forms a 

 hemispherical tree, about twenty feet in height, 

 with a summit as broad and as high as the tree 

 itself The branches are numerous, and disposed / 

 into a compact head, densely covered with leaves, ^ 

 which are distinguished by a peculiarly veiny 

 appearance, and lively green. The flowers, 

 which appear in May and June, are of a pale, 

 greenish yellow, sometimes slightly tinged with 

 red, as are the fruit or keys, before their matu- 

 rity. 



Geography and Histoi-y. The Acer tatari- 

 cum is found in Tartary, and is common through- 

 out all the south of European Russia ; but it does 

 not occur on the Ural Mountains, nor on the Caucasus. It was introduced mto 

 Britain in 1759, and is cultivated in the chief gardens in Europe solely as an 

 ornamental tree. 



The largest tree in Britain is at Endsleigh Cottage, in Devonshire, which, at 

 eighteen years planted, was forty feet high. 



Properties^ Uses, (Sf'c. The wood of this species is hard; and being of a 

 whitish colour, veined with brown, it may be u^ed for cabinet-work. In orna- 

 mental plantations, the tree is valuable on account of the early expansion of its 

 leaves, which appear before those of almost every other kind of maple; and it is 

 said to thrive in a moister soil. When raised from seeds, the plant will come 

 into flower in five or six years ; and in good soil, it will attain the height of 

 fifteen feet in ten years. Pallas informs us, that the Calmucks, after depriving 

 the keys of their wings, boil them in water, and afterwards use them for food, 

 mixed up with milk and butter. 

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