DENDROLOGY. 109 



lower parts of Virginia, of the Carolinas, and of Georgia, and 

 likewise the Western States this tree is unknown or rare. The 

 sugar maple covers a greater extent of American soil than any 

 other species of this genus. It flourishes most in mountainous 

 places, where the soil though fertile is cold and humid. Besides 

 the parts which we have particularly mentioned, where the face 

 of the country is generally of this nature, it is found along the 

 whole chain of the Alleghanies to their termination in Georgia, 

 and on the steep and shady hanks of the rivers which rise in 

 these mountains. 



The sugar maple reaches the height of 70 or 80 feet with a 

 proportional diameter ; but it does not commonly exceed 50 or 

 60 feet with a diameter of 12 or 18 inches. Well-grown, thriving 

 trees are beautiful in their appearance, and easily distinguishable 

 by the whiteness of their bark. The leaves are about five inches 

 broad, but they vary in length according to the age and vigor of 

 the tree. They are opposite, attached by long petioles, palmated 

 or equally divided into five lobes, entire at the edges, of a bright 

 green above, and glaucous or whitish underneath. In autumn 

 they turn reddish with the first frost. It puts forth small yellowish 

 flowers in May, which are suspended by slender, drooping 

 peduncles. The seed is contained in two capsules united at 

 the base and terminated in a membraneous wing. It is ripe in 

 the beginning of October, though the capsules attain their full 

 size six weeks earlier. Externally they appear equal, but one 

 of them is always empty. The fruit is matured only once in 

 two or three years. 



The wood when cut is white, but after being wrought and 

 exposed for some time to the light it takes a rosy tinge. Its 

 grain is fine and close, and when polished, it has a silky lustre. 

 It is very strong and sufficiently heavy, but wants the property 

 of durability, for which the oak is highly esteemed. When 

 exposed to moisture it soon decays, and for this reason it is not 

 much used in civil and naval architecture. In the Eastern States 

 where the oak is not plentiful, this timber is substituted for it in 

 preference to the beech, the birch and the elm. When perfectly 

 seasoned, which requires two or three years, it is used by wheel- 



