Acer clrcinaturn^ 

 THE CIRCINAL-LEAVED MAPLE. 



Synonymes. 



Acer circinatum, 



Erable circinal, 

 Kreiselnder Ahorn, 

 Acero acchiocciolato, 

 Round-leaved Maple, 



De Candoi.le, Prodromus. 



Hooker, Flora Boreali Americana. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 I ToRREY AiN'D Gray, Flora of North America. 

 \ NuTTALL, North American Sylva. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain. 



Derivations. The specific name, circinatum, is derived from the Latin circino, to roll, having reference to the manner or 

 the rolling of the leaves. The European nainea are translations of the botanical one. 



Engravings. Nuttall, North American Sylva, pi. ; Hooker, Flora Boreali Americana, pi. 39 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britan- 

 nicum, i., figures 112, et 127, in p. 4-54 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves orbicular, rather cordate at the base, 7-lobed, smooth on ooth surfaces , lobes 

 acutely toothed ; nerves and veins hairy at their origins. Don, Miller''s Diet 



Description. 



M^HE Acer circinatum, in 

 its native country, at- 

 tains a height of twenty 

 to forty feet. The 



branches are slender, pendulous, and crooked ; 



often taking root in the manner of those of 



many species of ficus, and sometimes of the 



hnden-tree. The bark is smooth, green when 



young, and whitish when fully grown. The 



leaves, which are about the size of those of the 



Acer rubrum, are membraneous, heart-shaped, 



with seven to nine lobes, and the same number 



of nerves. They are smooth above, except 



hairs in the axils of the nerves, when young, but 



glabrous when older, and downy beneath, with 



the axils of the nerves woolly. The lobes are 



ovate, acute, and sharply serrated ; the sinuses 



are acute, the foot-stalks rather short, from 



which radiate the nerves to the tip of each 



lobe. The flowers, which appear in April and May, are of a middling size, and 



occur on nodding corymbs, with long peduncles. The fruit has thin, straight 



wings, which are so divaricate as to form right angles with the peduncle. This 



species is very marked, and may readily be distinguished by the regular form of 



its leaves, and their pale, reddish-green colour. 



Geography and History. This tree is common along the west coast of North 



America, between the forty-third and forty-ninth degrees of latitude, and is 



particularly abundant on the great rapids of the river Columbia. Like the Acer 



macrophyllum, it is exclusively confined to the woody, mountainous country 



that skirts the shores, and there forms, among the pine forests, almost impene- 

 trable thickets. 



