24 NANTUCKET TREES 



Gardner Streets give little idea of the" beauty of the 

 species. The native maple of Nantucket is the red maple, 

 Acer rubrum L. , but it does not come into town. It is 

 not even found along the open roads; the red maple pre- 

 fers the acid soil of peaty bogs. In such a setting it 

 grows to forest size although, as an effect of its 

 struggle against the constant wind, it is so low and 

 spreading that a grove of red maple counts in the land- 

 scape merely as a low thicket. Such a forest may be 

 found in Ram Pasture. The venerable trees branch close 

 to the ground and form a spreading canopy. The small 

 leaves are grey underneath and the branches are hoary 

 with tufts of lichen. It seems an ancient and mysteri- 

 ous forest. The chance visitor does not enter as it is 

 ringed about by an almost impenetrable swamp. 



The abundant maples of Nantucket town are of 

 four species: the ash-leaved maple or box elder, Acer 

 Negundo L. , the silver maple, Acer saccharinum L. , the 

 Norway maple, Acer nl atanoides L. , and the sycamore 

 maple, Acer vseudo-vl atanus L. The box elder is our 

 only maple with a compound leaf. It is a rapid-growing 

 tree and reaches a large size. An example may be seen 

 on Pine Street. The silver maple is another rapid- 

 growing species. A cut-leaved variety of this silver 

 maple is being increasingly planted here as a shade 

 tree and has grown to a large size at the corner of Fair 

 and Darling Streets. The Norway maple has been occasion- 

 ally planted and grows to a vigorous, spreading tree. 

 It is, however, the sycamore maple, that has become, 

 next to the elm, the dominant shade tree of the town. 

 There are fine examples at J2 Main Street while in the 

 yard at the junction of New Mill and Milk Streets the 

 spreading sycamore maples form an out-of-door room. 

 Rehder, the tree authority of America, states that the 

 sycamore maple "thrives well in exposed situations and 

 near the sea shore." There is good reason then for its 

 successful colonizing of Nantucket. 39 



Among the deciduous trees, oaks are the dominant 

 native trees on Nantucket but they are seldom seen in 

 town. On upper Main Street a small pin oak, Quercus 

 Dalustri s Muench., the species which is so much planted 

 in Boston parkways, has been set out. In the yard at 



