RED-FLOWERED MAPLE, 101 



and is sometimes employed as ink, by American youth in village schools. For 

 this purpose, however, it is very inappropriate, as it never dries properly, and 

 in damp weather, the writing becomes glutinous and blots. A fluid prepared in 

 a similar manner, by adding sulphate of alumina, (common alum,) instead of 

 copperas, is also used for dyeing black. The French Canadians make sugar 

 from the sap of this maple, which they call plaine ; but, as in the preceding 

 species, the product cf a given measure, is not more than one half as great as 

 that of the sugar maple. 



In Britain, and throughout Europe, the sole use of the Acer rubrum is as an 

 ornamental tree ; and, whether it is viewed in the beauty of its flowers and 

 opening leaves in early spring, or admired for its red fruit in the beginning of 

 summer, and its crimsoned foliage in autumn, it deserves to be ranked as one o/ 

 the most ornamental of hardy trees. 



Acer monspessularmm^ 

 THE MONTPELLIER MAPLE. 



Synonymes. 



ILiNNJEus, Species Plantarum. 

 De Candolle, Prodromus. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 Erable de Montpellier, France. 



Franzosischer Ahorn, German?. 



Acero minore, Acero piccolo, Albero ) j 



lattajolo, ) 



Montpellier Maple, Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engravings. Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, i., figure 131, p. 458 ; et v., pi. 41 ; and the figure below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves cordate, 3-lobed ; lobes almost entire, and equal. Corymbs few-flowered, 

 pendulous. Fruit smooth, with the wings hardly diverging. Loudon, Arboretum. 



Description. 



^^SS^^HE Acer monspessulanum is a low tree or shrub, 

 !^ h H i^ thirty or forty feet in height; native of France. 

 ^ LI ^ Spain, and Italy; grows chiefly on rocky, exposed 

 ^^^^^P situations: and introduced into Britain in 1739. 

 The trunk is covered with a reddish-brown bark. The leaves are chiefly three- 

 lobed, with an entire margin, of a dark-green colour, and bear a general resem- 

 blance to those of the Acer campestre, which are about the same size, but of a 

 paler green, and five-lobed ; in mild seasons, they remain on the trees a great 

 part of the winter, more especially in France. The flowers are produced just 

 before the leaves, in May ; they are pendulous, and grow in corymbs, one from 

 almost every bud, and consist of from six to ten flowers ; they are of a pale-yel- 

 low colour, and form a great source of attraction to bees. The wood is hard 

 and heavy, and is used in France by turners and cabinet-makers. It is 

 much planted in that country for hedges, on account of the persistency of the 

 leaves. In England, this tree may be considered as purely one of ornament. 

 It is propagated either by seeds or layers, and well deserves a place in every 

 collection, both in Europe and in America, wherever it will grow. In France, in 

 the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, there is a tree of this species, which had attained 

 the height of fifty-five feet in one hundred and thirty years after planting. 



